An Extraordinary Painting
![Image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCAOexpRpUYBbbOC2foGpnt8Zqz_TVCU6NEjN0NM6-vvIEsc-8A-hv-FfNWJHyvDfq-MrZ3zB4as9bGvuaBR8fXyPgcr459Bqjr-GcGRwMEGdLayFSDDwBCwEkWGesY2Dho3vha0oBjGQ/s400/Max-Ernst.jpg)
Here is a painting that has fascinated me for years. Young Virgin Spanking the Infant Jesus In Front of Three Witnesses by Max Ernst, 1891-1976 I first saw this at the Museum of Modern Art—I think it was a show about surrealism but I can’t find it on MOMA’s website. It’s a shocking painting, almost six feet tall as I remember it. Mary is sitting in a shadowy corner of a de Chirico like space before a bright blue sky, spanking the heck out of the toddler Jesus—so hard his little bottom is bright red and his halo has fallen to the ground. It’s a violent image—all sharp angles and brilliant colors. She wears a red dress and her lap is covered with a blue robe. Her arm is high over her head—she’s really letting him have it. And she’s doing it in front of witnesses; there’s a window through which Ernst and his friends, Paul Elard and Andre Breton are watching. Why are they there? Their presence is creepy and voyeuristic. It knocked me out and ra