Hills III

The work of Avner Moriah, an artist living in Jerusalem, is deeply grounded in his Jewish heritage. In his series of land- and cityscapes, into which category this painting falls, he seeks to record his homeland as the backdrop to ancient civilizations. The works embody a sense of timelessness and serenity and capture the local light and colors, focusing on these aspects rather than human interventions on the land. These paintings differ greatly from the public works Moriah has created for synagogues, educational institutions, and national memorials. These are graphic and highly charged images of religious strife. Many explore the horrors of the Holocaust and the expulsion of Jews from Spain.

Avner Moriah studied art at Yale University. This 1986 painting of a scene near Bethlehem (Israel) was painted while the artist was living in New Haven.