Artwork Information

Each of the paintings in the Visible Mysteries series is inscribed with the phrase ‘Grant that what we have received in visible mysteries we may obtain in its invisible effect’. A Catholic incantation said after receiving Holy Communion on Ascension Day, it also conveys the complexity of attempting to express the inexpressible. Gordon H. Brown expands on this point noting; ‘It is a case of giving visibility to a mysterious process by imposing on its invisible power a form identifiable to the senses. So it is that certain symbols loosely associated with the Eucharist reinforce the text inscribed on each painting.’ (McCahon's Visible Mysteries, 2004)