Ugly art

There’s a man in heaven with ugly wounds in his hands, feet and side.

This shocking, stunning painting was part of the Isenheim Altarpiece painted by Matthias Grunewald. It hung in the hospital chapel of St Anthony’s monastery which specialised in the treatment of painful skin disease. Grunewald depicts Christ’s body covered in sores – a sign to the hospital patients that Christ shares in their afflictions.

If art is to be a mirror to our world, should it always be beautiful?