Before us is Golgotha, interpreted in the tradition of an iconographic image – a theological space where the mystery of the Crucifixion sacrifice is revealed. At the centre rise three crosses, rooted in the earth; the vertical axis connecting heaven and earth is emphasised – the axis of the entire image and the main theme of the composition.
The space above Golgotha is marked by a conventional, almost flat heaven, with darkening and crimson-ochre tones – a reminder of the darkness that covered the earth during the Crucifixion. In the upper part are depicted symbols of the heavenly sphere, bowing before the Mystery, indicating the invisible presence of God.
The figures of the Mother of God, John the Theologian, and the Myrrh-bearing Women are arranged so that their postures and gazes direct the viewer's attention to the centre. They appear not merely as witnesses to a historical event, but as participants in the liturgical drama of salvation. Overall, the image of Golgotha in the iconographic manner is rendered with utmost detail: maximum external particulars, high saturation of symbols, where every line and colour is subordinated to the theme of the Sacrifice, through which death is transformed into a source of new life.
The space above Golgotha is marked by a conventional, almost flat heaven, with darkening and crimson-ochre tones – a reminder of the darkness that covered the earth during the Crucifixion. In the upper part are depicted symbols of the heavenly sphere, bowing before the Mystery, indicating the invisible presence of God.
The figures of the Mother of God, John the Theologian, and the Myrrh-bearing Women are arranged so that their postures and gazes direct the viewer's attention to the centre. They appear not merely as witnesses to a historical event, but as participants in the liturgical drama of salvation. Overall, the image of Golgotha in the iconographic manner is rendered with utmost detail: maximum external particulars, high saturation of symbols, where every line and colour is subordinated to the theme of the Sacrifice, through which death is transformed into a source of new life.
Dmitry Vasilyevich Bliznyuk
(18.10.1935 - 03.10.2021)
«Golgotha»
Oil on canvas, 75х54, 2011
Before us is Golgotha, interpreted in the tradition of an iconographic image – a theological space where the mystery of the Crucifixion sacrifice is revealed. At the centre rise three crosses, rooted in the earth; the vertical axis connecting heaven and earth is emphasised – the axis of the entire image and the main theme of the composition.
The space above Golgotha is marked by a conventional, almost flat heaven, with darkening and crimson-ochre tones – a reminder of the darkness that covered the earth during the Crucifixion. In the upper part are depicted symbols of the heavenly sphere, bowing before the Mystery, indicating the invisible presence of God.
The figures of the Mother of God, John the Theologian, and the Myrrh-bearing Women are arranged so that their postures and gazes direct the viewer's attention to the centre. They appear not merely as witnesses to a historical event, but as participants in the liturgical drama of salvation. Overall, the image of Golgotha in the iconographic manner is rendered with utmost detail: maximum external particulars, high saturation of symbols, where every line and colour is subordinated to the theme of the Sacrifice, through which death is transformed into a source of new life.
The space above Golgotha is marked by a conventional, almost flat heaven, with darkening and crimson-ochre tones – a reminder of the darkness that covered the earth during the Crucifixion. In the upper part are depicted symbols of the heavenly sphere, bowing before the Mystery, indicating the invisible presence of God.
The figures of the Mother of God, John the Theologian, and the Myrrh-bearing Women are arranged so that their postures and gazes direct the viewer's attention to the centre. They appear not merely as witnesses to a historical event, but as participants in the liturgical drama of salvation. Overall, the image of Golgotha in the iconographic manner is rendered with utmost detail: maximum external particulars, high saturation of symbols, where every line and colour is subordinated to the theme of the Sacrifice, through which death is transformed into a source of new life.
Dmitry Vasilyevich Bliznyuk
(18.10.1935 - 03.10.2021)
«Golgotha»
Oil on canvas, 75х54, 2011
four poems
«Golgotha»
***
«After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said: I thirst…»
John, ch. 19, verse 28
John, ch. 19, verse 28
The path to Truth – the dots of Knowledge,
These lines are laid
As tablets.
Emerging from a letter,
Threading into a word,
They flow into my verses
As a new stream,
Where bitterness and love,
And the hue of betrayal –
The repulsive, ruddy tint
Of a copper coin,
And the vein-tearing cry
Unto Sabaoth,
And the exhale – I thirst! –
The Crucifixion at Golgotha!
These lines are laid
As tablets.
Emerging from a letter,
Threading into a word,
They flow into my verses
As a new stream,
Where bitterness and love,
And the hue of betrayal –
The repulsive, ruddy tint
Of a copper coin,
And the vein-tearing cry
Unto Sabaoth,
And the exhale – I thirst! –
The Crucifixion at Golgotha!
***
***
The heavens split—
Through the earth, the Cross!
Malice, arrogance, and pride,
Where are you now?
Through the earth, the Cross!
Malice, arrogance, and pride,
Where are you now?
***
In my eyes is an abyss,
And in my heart –
A path to the Temple!
I will never surrender
This happiness to a brute!
A double-edged dagger
Is plunged –
And veins are slashed wide open!
I hate, I renounce
The fury of betrayal!
Even in a sinful body
A living soul beats –
Following the Lord –
Magdalene – now
And evermore – a saint!
Who is the first to cast
A stone?
Who flatters, betrays…
Behold!..
I know these sanctimonious
Ones,
Who shouted to Pilate:
«Crucify!»
Their throng is vast,
Legions –
Countless!
But there are places on earth,
Where a free heart
Beats
Under the shadow
Of His finger!
And in my heart –
A path to the Temple!
I will never surrender
This happiness to a brute!
A double-edged dagger
Is plunged –
And veins are slashed wide open!
I hate, I renounce
The fury of betrayal!
Even in a sinful body
A living soul beats –
Following the Lord –
Magdalene – now
And evermore – a saint!
Who is the first to cast
A stone?
Who flatters, betrays…
Behold!..
I know these sanctimonious
Ones,
Who shouted to Pilate:
«Crucify!»
Their throng is vast,
Legions –
Countless!
But there are places on earth,
Where a free heart
Beats
Under the shadow
Of His finger!
A bird of passage,
A destitute wanderer...
My heart is
Like a chalice of sorrow,
While the autumn wind
Rages and whistles,
In the impenetrable darkness –
The silent night.
A destitute wanderer...
My heart is
Like a chalice of sorrow,
While the autumn wind
Rages and whistles,
In the impenetrable darkness –
The silent night.
A distant echo,
Lost in Lethe...
The years have slipped away —
Mercenaries of eternity,
The burnt-out bonfires of our youth,
With sparks of laughter,
And charming carelessness.
Lost in Lethe...
The years have slipped away —
Mercenaries of eternity,
The burnt-out bonfires of our youth,
With sparks of laughter,
And charming carelessness.
Sing at parting
A song of rapture!
The heart's sorrow –
Is the joy of revelation.
The spirit's victory –
Is Golgotha and the Cross.
In the heights of the universe –
The unfading Light!
A song of rapture!
The heart's sorrow –
Is the joy of revelation.
The spirit's victory –
Is Golgotha and the Cross.
In the heights of the universe –
The unfading Light!
***
View painting/Collapse
four poems
«Golgotha»
***
«After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said: I thirst…»
John, ch. 19, verse 28
John, ch. 19, verse 28
The path to Truth – the dots of Knowledge,
These lines are laid
As tablets.
Emerging from a letter,
Threading into a word,
They flow into my verses
As a new stream,
Where bitterness and love,
And the hue of betrayal –
The repulsive, ruddy tint
Of a copper coin,
And the vein-tearing cry
Unto Sabaoth,
And the exhale – I thirst! –
The Crucifixion at Golgotha!
These lines are laid
As tablets.
Emerging from a letter,
Threading into a word,
They flow into my verses
As a new stream,
Where bitterness and love,
And the hue of betrayal –
The repulsive, ruddy tint
Of a copper coin,
And the vein-tearing cry
Unto Sabaoth,
And the exhale – I thirst! –
The Crucifixion at Golgotha!
The heavens split—
Through the earth, the Cross!
Malice, arrogance, and pride,
Where are you now?
Through the earth, the Cross!
Malice, arrogance, and pride,
Where are you now?
***
In my eyes is an abyss,
And in my heart –
A path to the Temple!
I will never surrender
This happiness to a brute!
A double-edged dagger
Is plunged –
And veins are slashed wide open!
I hate, I renounce
The fury of betrayal!
Even in a sinful body
A living soul beats –
Following the Lord –
Magdalene – now
And evermore – a saint!
Who is the first to cast
A stone?
Who flatters, betrays…
Behold!..
I know these sanctimonious
Ones,
Who shouted to Pilate:
«Crucify!»
Their throng is vast,
Legions –
Countless!
But there are places on earth,
Where a free heart
Beats
Under the shadow
Of His finger!
And in my heart –
A path to the Temple!
I will never surrender
This happiness to a brute!
A double-edged dagger
Is plunged –
And veins are slashed wide open!
I hate, I renounce
The fury of betrayal!
Even in a sinful body
A living soul beats –
Following the Lord –
Magdalene – now
And evermore – a saint!
Who is the first to cast
A stone?
Who flatters, betrays…
Behold!..
I know these sanctimonious
Ones,
Who shouted to Pilate:
«Crucify!»
Their throng is vast,
Legions –
Countless!
But there are places on earth,
Where a free heart
Beats
Under the shadow
Of His finger!
***
A bird of passage,
A destitute wanderer...
My heart is
Like a chalice of sorrow,
While the autumn wind
Rages and whistles,
In the impenetrable darkness –
The silent night.
A destitute wanderer...
My heart is
Like a chalice of sorrow,
While the autumn wind
Rages and whistles,
In the impenetrable darkness –
The silent night.
A distant echo,
Lost in Lethe...
The years have slipped away —
Mercenaries of eternity,
The burnt-out bonfires of our youth,
With sparks of laughter,
And charming carelessness.
Lost in Lethe...
The years have slipped away —
Mercenaries of eternity,
The burnt-out bonfires of our youth,
With sparks of laughter,
And charming carelessness.
Sing at parting
A song of rapture!
The heart's sorrow –
Is the joy of revelation.
The spirit's victory –
Is Golgotha and the Cross.
In the heights of the universe –
The unfading Light!
A song of rapture!
The heart's sorrow –
Is the joy of revelation.
The spirit's victory –
Is Golgotha and the Cross.
In the heights of the universe –
The unfading Light!
***
View painting/Collapse
1935
2021
Dmitry Vasilyevich Bliznyuk
18.10.1935 - 03.10.2021.
Artist, scenographer. Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR. Member of the Union of Artists of the RSFSR.
Dmitry Vasilyevich Bliznyuk worked in oil painting. Since 1970, he served as a production designer at the Rostov Theatre for Young Spectators (TYuZ), and later as the chief artist of the Rostov Academic Drama Theatre named after M. Gorky. Collaborating with leading theaters across Russia, he developed artistic designs for over 200 productions based on plays by Russian, Soviet, and foreign playwrights and writers. He participated in All-Russian and international exhibitions.
1935
2021
Dmitry Vasilyevich Bliznyuk
18.10.1935 - 03.10.2021.
Artist, scenographer. Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR. Member of the Union of Artists of the RSFSR.
Dmitry Vasilyevich Bliznyuk worked in oil painting. Since 1970, he served as a production designer at the Rostov Theatre for Young Spectators (TYuZ), and later as the chief artist of the Rostov Academic Drama Theatre named after M. Gorky. Collaborating with leading theaters across Russia, he developed artistic designs for over 200 productions based on plays by Russian, Soviet, and foreign playwrights and writers. He participated in All-Russian and international exhibitions.