Andrei Rublev: Religious Epiphany in Art

Abstract

Andrei Rublev (1966) was Andrei Tarkovsky's second feature film. It was banned for five years in his own country but won the International Critics Prize at Cannes in 1969. Other films by the director include Solaris (1972), Mirror (1975), Stalker (1979), Nostalgia (1982) and Sacrifice (1986).

The Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986) was especially interested in the relationship between art and religious experience. This concern is exemplified in his 1966 feature Andrei Rublev, still considered by many today as one of the greatest achievements in the history of film. It was Tarkovsky's belief that art should have a metaphysical function, urging the observer to strive with "the crucial questions of his existence", and, at its most sublime, to be expressive of the Transcendent and induce in the beholder what can be called a Religious Epiphany. Here this term denotes the core religious experience common to all spiritual efforts: an apprehension of the absolute, the infinite, of Truth or God. In discussing the aesthetic and thematic ambitions of Andrei Rublev I wish to elucidate the possibility of religious epiphany and, with it, Tarkovsky's own fundamentally Christian assessment of the role of art and artist.

Recommended Citation

D'Sa, Nigel S. (1999) "Andrei Rublev: Religious Epiphany in Art," Journal of Religion & Film: Vol. 3: Iss. 2, Article 4.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32873/uno.dc.jrf.03.02.04
Available at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol3/iss2/4