La Fabrique Saint Pierre, responsible for the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican, announced on December 18, 2024 that the Swiss artist Manuel Dürr won the international competition for the creation of a “Via Crucis” (station of the cross) in the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican.
With kath.ch
Nearly 1,000 artists from around the world participated in this competition. Dürr’s projects were selected because of their “exceptional technical quality, originality and powerful expressive force.”
The jury, composed of Art historians, liturgists and Vatican dignitaries, particularly praised the deep spirituality and expressive power of Dürr’s sketches. His representations of the fourteen stations, in the form of large-format oil paintings, will be exhibited each year from February 18, 2026, during the Passion and Easter season, in the central nave of the papal basilica.
Next to Michelangelo and Bernini
“What an honor to be exhibited alongside Michelangelo and Bernini. And what a fear to create your own works which must find their place in such an important place from the point of view of art and cultural history,” reacted Manuel Dürr. He stressed that he wanted, through his art, that “people open up new perspectives on the themes represented and understand them better themselves.”
Manuel Dürr’s works are characterized by an intensive study of different artistic traditions and attempts to interpret them in new ways. There we find reminiscences of the filigree painting of the Italian Renaissance, but also of the more expressive and cruder line of Parisian realism of a Courbet for example.
“Painting can today be a particular form of telling the truth”
The painterly compositions are indebted to figurative painting, but are reinterpreted with an appreciation for painting all-over abstract expressionism or the sensibilities of the expressionists. His works, which have been exhibited around the world, are known for their powerful visual language and their ability to vividly interpret religious and social themes. Manuel Dürr believes that “painting can today be a special way of telling the truth”.
*Manuel Andreas Dürr (*1989) studied painting at the Academy of Classical Art in Florence, then philosophy, art history and Slavic studies at the universities of Friborg and Bern. His works have been presented in international exhibitions in Europe, China and the United States. He works as an independent artist in Bienne (BE) and runs his studio with his wife Anja. They have three young children. (cath.ch/kath.ch/mp)
© Catholic Media Center Cath-Info, 12/19/2024
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