The Worshipper, 2005

The Worshipper is based on a Polaroid image Luc Tuymans took of a costumed statue at the Musée International du Carneval et du Masque in Binche, Belgium. The museum celebrates the city’s annual Easter carnival, which dates back to the 14th century, and remains a prized, though peculiar part of European pageantry and heritage. Tuymans described how he instantly perceived the statue as transcending its carnival context, instead evoking "the idea of something strangely fanatical". Captured in isolation and illuminated by the flash of Tuymans’s camera, the figure takes on the appearance of an archaic priest, its outstretched hand forming an ambiguous, almost imploring gesture.