Prodigal Son

Leon Golub based this painting on the biblical story of the prodigal son. It focuses on the moment of redemption when a wayward son returns home in shame and is welcomed and forgiven by his father. Golub has composed the two nearly abstract figures in a tight unit of roughly laid-in shapes. The father cradles his son in hands that are larger than life, while the son looks down, perhaps in remorse.

In the 1950s, Golub drew inspiration for many paintings from classical mythology and biblical stories that he felt addressed the human condition in contemporary life. He often conveyed in these works a sense of tragedy and loss through dramatic compositions and an almost brutally expressive approach to the human figure. At the time he painted Prodigal Son, Golub lived and worked in Chicago, exhibiting as part of the "Monster Roster," a group whose work was characterized by emotionally charged figurative imagery. He was a peer of H. C. Westermann and an important predecessor to Imagists such as Christina Ramberg.