Jonah and the Whale

From the Minneapolis Institute of Art record

Flannagan's bronze sculpture represents the Old Testament parable of the prophet Jonah, who, having disobeyed God, was cast overboard by his fellow fishermen during a violent storm at sea, swallowed by a whale (fish), and disgorged unharmed three days later after praying for redemption. For Flannagan, the theme of Jonah and the whale embodied more than merely a didactic religious allegory, but a culmination of a lifelong exploration of the universal mysteries of life, death, and rebirth, a motif common among his mature works. Here, in an unconventional and highly personal interpretation, he depicts Jonah within the belly of the whale, enclosed as if in a womb, awaiting rebirth to the world of the living. United States, Americas