An oil painting on wood panel with iron oxide and 24k gold leaf by the Afro-Cuban American painter Harmonia Rosales, completed in 2020 and acquired by the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture the following year. Styled after Raphael's School of Athens, with the painting's Greek key border replaced by the Adinkra symbol wawa aba, it depicts a Yoruba tale of betrayal among the orishas: Oya caught between Ogun and Shango in a conflict the artist frames as the opening of the bloodiest wars fought in the Orisha Kingdom, a deliberate echo of the Greco-Roman story of Vulcan catching Venus with Mars. Golden halos mark all three figures as sacred.
Facts
Custody
Current LocationNational Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., object number 2021.66 1 Current CustodianNational Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution 1 Medium (class) Origins
Date of Creation Attributed To Physical Form
MediumOil on wood panel with iron oxide and 24k gold leaf 1 Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectThe orishas Ogun, Oya and Shango, at the moment of the betrayal that Yoruba tradition holds set off war in the Orisha Kingdom. 1 Connections
Associated With
Athens, Cities This source names Athens directly: "Styled after Raphael's School of Athens, with the painting's Greek key border replaced by the Adinkra symbol wawa aba, it depicts a Yoruba tale of betrayal among the orishas: Oya caught between Ogun..."
Source Oya's Betrayal, Object Record (National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution)National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution
This source names Vulcan directly: "echo of the Greco-Roman story of Vulcan catching Venus with Mars."
Source Oya's Betrayal, Object Record (National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution)National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution
Depicts
Oya, Deities Source Oya's Betrayal, Object Record (National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution)National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution
Originated In
Source Oya's Betrayal, Object Record (National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution)National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution
In the Other Atlases
Authored By
Also in Arts and Music Atlas: the author of this subject.
Source Smithsonian Institution Open Access: Oya's Betrayal, Smithsonian Open Access record nmaahc_2021.66Created by fieldQuote, Created by field
Harmonia Rosales, Cuban American, born 1984
Sources
1. Oya's Betrayal, Object Record (National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution)
National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian Institutioncatalogue record, medium/object-type description
An oil painting on wood panel with iron oxide and 24k gold leaf by the Afro-Cuban American painter Harmonia Rosales, completed in 2020 and acquired by the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture the following year.
- Originated In: United States, Stored country property on this entity, cited to this source: United States
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