Twenty years ago, an imposing eight-by-ten foot painting arrived at Brigham Young University’s Museum of Art. It was Carl Bloch’s 1883 work Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda, depicting Jesus extending a hand of hope to an afflicted man.
The day of its arrival was September 10, 2001—and although nobody knew it, hope through the Savior would be needed more than ever the very next day and in the weeks to come, as the world reeled from the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
According to Y Magazine, the painting’s frame has been restored to its original form, with decorative wooden scrollwork and a cross reattached at the top.
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To celebrate the anniversary of the painting’s arrival at BYU, last summer the Museum of Art produced a docuseries about the painting, recounting its history and its impact at BYU over the last 20 years. You can watch an episode from the series in the player below.
Curator Ashlee Whitaker told Y Magazine that the painting’s message of healing is “a powerful thing to have students come and sit with time and time again.”
