I Find This Painting Extremely Depressing And This Is Why.

This is a Brazilian painting called The Redemption Of Cain, there are four people in the composition, there is a family with a baby sitting down and there is an older black lady standing over them her hands raised to the heavens in a prayerful stance.

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As a piece of art it is visually pleasing and well painted, the visuals of the painting are quite serene, it induces a smile on the face of the observer as it tells a story of the pleasant placid serenity of a happy family.

However, underneath that placid serenity beautifully depicted by the artist lays an unpleasant, soul destroying, deeply depressing tale.

Black people in Brazil and most of south America were severely restricted in their life opportunities, they are largely restricted to three main opportunities; sports, art (singing dancing performing) or domestics (house help), this had been the case for centuries and generations and the result of this has created psychological impact on a certain type of black south American mindset which has in turn led that mindset to identify the colour of their skin as the main burden of their life.

The black lady in this painting is of that mindset.

Having identified their blackness as their greatest burden, this mindset sets out to breed the black out of their bloodline so that future generations would not have to "suffer" this burden.

The old black lady to the left of the painting is the mother of the young lady at the centre of painting, the man to the right is the husband of the young lady and the child is their child.

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When she was younger, the black lady set about the task of breeding the black out of her bloodline, to that end, she married / had a child with a white guy, that child is the mixed race young lady in the painting, when she grew up, the mixed race lady marries a Portuguese settler, they had a child together, the child in the painting. The child in the painting is either quarter-caste or full white; it is difficult to tell from the painting, either way, job done.

As she looks to the heavens in exaltation, the elderly black lady is thankful that her prayers have been answered.

She has succeeded in breeding the black out of her bloodline within 3 generations

and that is why i find this painting so depressing.