Connecting art & faith: Art That Unites

Art has the power to unite us across time and distance in a way that is beautifully simple, even in its infinite variety and complexity. Experiences with arts and culture offer us special moments to gather, united, to celebrate extraordinary expressions of humanity.

Earlier this year, the Thrivent Art Collection hosted an exhibition in Minneapolis that brought many people together in this very spirit. The momentous exhibition, “Art That Unites,” featured 27 artworks from the Vatican Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art alongside 29 objects from the Thrivent Collection of Religious Art. Notably, this collection within the Vatican Museums had never been on display in the United States.

The exhibition explored modern religious imagination, sacred iconography and ecumenical conversation, offering a rare opportunity to admire 20th-century works on paper from the Vatican alongside masterpieces from the past that were sources of inspiration. Shown together, these objects wove a narrative spanning the evolution of art and theology, inviting visitors to explore the intersections of faith, art and the human experience.

Thrivent and the Vatican Museums have a shared commitment to preserving art and culture while making these more accessible in communities. As a purpose-driven financial services organization that empowers lives of service and faith, we appreciate the profound impact of expressing faith through art. Our partnership with the Vatican Museums celebrates this timeless expression.

International collaboration between arts institutions—sharing research, participating in loans, forming collegial relationships—is a heartening truth of the world of art and culture. The joyful collaboration between the Vatican Museums and the Thrivent Art Collection encompasses these themes, and the exhibition is one of many special events and experiences organized by the Thrivent Art Collection to gather our members together in fellowship and forge connections.

Art long has held immense meaning in the history of Christianity—to teach and to inspire faith, to demonstrate the wonder of God’s creation and to marvel at the joy and difficulties faced by Christ. It is these foundational tenets of the history of Christian art that connect the Thrivent Art Collection with the Vatican Museums, and their powerful role as contemporary expressions of the endurance of faith and Christianity in the history of art.

Joanna Reiling Lindell is the director and curator of the Thrivent Art Collection.