On Sundays and on the days of the celebration of the Nativity of Christ, the first doors of the Isenheim altar flung open, and from the darkness of a hopeless night a bright day was born, the bottomless despair was replaced with equally boundless joy.
In the center of the altar the gaze of the believers opened the picture “Glorification of the Mother of God.” And consider it together in the pictures on the leaves from left to right.
On the left is the “Annunciation” scene. The plot is based on the prophecy of Isaiah in the Old Testament: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son… He will eat milk and honey until he understands to reject the evil and choose the good.” It is on this page that the book in front of Maria is opened, it is in this place that the book is opened in the hands of the prophet Isaiah himself, depicted in the upper left corner of the leaf.
In the center of the painting “Glorification of the Mother of God”, executed in an original and strikingly different way in construction and details from the traditional chamber composition. It is a scene of truly universal rejoicing, in which the heavenly world merges with the earthly world. Every fragment of this picture is beautiful: angels with faces of naughty boys and fiery winged seraphim, unpretentious utensils prepared for bathing a baby and a fragile transparent vessel on the steps, reviving figures of biblical prophets on the walls of the chapel and braided columns of plants…
The subtlest color changes make one recall the painting of the Venetians. The artist does not just paint figures and objects, but creates some sort of iridescent luminous haze.
The colors mix, flow one into the other, shine through, sometimes turning into a barely perceptible transparent haze. It is the color that helps the artist to transmit the unearthly sounds of the angelic orchestra and such an all-embracing feeling of joy that he has no name in the human language.
The “Resurrection” scene on the right wing shows the jubilant moment of Christ’s resurrection. We see him ascending to heaven. It is difficult to describe this composition, all the power of which is in color. Christ raises above the coffin, and behind it, like a light trail, stretches a shroud in the iridescent gleam of the aureole. The guard, blinded by his sudden radiance, is defeated in the dust.
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