<![CDATA[Dan Muirhead: After Caravaggio]]>

<![CDATA[Dan Muirhead: After Caravaggio]]>https://danielmuirhead.substack.com/s/modern-caravaggiohttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Yfci!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Feee657ef-5ccc-40a3-a7de-3e862e196db7_1024x1024.pngDan Muirhead: After Caravaggiohttps://danielmuirhead.substack.com/s/modern-caravaggioSubstackWed, 03 Jun 2026 11:54:24 GMT<![CDATA[After Caravaggio: The Seven Acts of Mercy]]>https://danielmuirhead.substack.com/p/after-caravaggio-the-seven-acts-ofhttps://danielmuirhead.substack.com/p/after-caravaggio-the-seven-acts-ofFri, 22 May 2026 18:58:05 GMT

A restaging of Caravaggio's The Seven Acts of Mercy (1606–07) set in a present-day city street at night, preserving the original's composition and tenebrist lighting. On the upper left wall, a weathered painted mural of the original's Madonna and two descending angels looks down on a scene where no one looks up. Below, a tight pyramid of figures: at the right, a woman presses a pear to the lips of a handcuffed man whose head emerges from the rear window of a police car, a grocery bag on her arm. Behind her, two workers wheel a sheeted body on a gurney into an alley, one holding a small light. At center, a man in a white shirt lowers a bomber jacket onto the bare back of a man collapsed on the ground. At the left, a shopkeeper points a delivery rider toward a lit doorway, and a bouncer drinks from a bottle, head tipped back. The seven acts of mercy, performed on a single street. — After Caravaggio, The Seven Acts of Mercy (1606–07)

A series. Caravaggio’s paintings, restaged for the present. One image at a time, no commentary.

Dan Muirhead spent 15+ years paid to make people pay attention. Now he is more interested in what is worth paying attention to. Based in Bogotá, with roots in Dallas and frequent time in Miami, he writes Bogotá Letters and profiles makers to document how cities are used versus designed, and how objects are made to be lived with. More at danmuirhead.co.

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]]><![CDATA[After Caravaggio: The Cardsharps]]>https://danielmuirhead.substack.com/p/after-caravaggio-the-cardsharpshttps://danielmuirhead.substack.com/p/after-caravaggio-the-cardsharpsSat, 16 May 2026 18:21:52 GMT

A contemporary restaging of Caravaggio's The Cardsharps (c. 1594), rendered in oil painting style. Three young men sit at a table covered in rich red fabric. On the left, a young man in a clean hoodie looks down at a smartphone displaying a sports betting app, absorbed and unaware. Behind him, an older accomplice in dark clothing and torn gloves leans over his shoulder, reading his screen, one hand raised to signal. On the right, a second young man in flashy streetwear glances sideways toward the accomplice, a hidden phone held behind his back showing a group chat the mark cannot see. A tablet on the table displays a sportsbook interface. The composition, lighting, and spatial relationships match the original painting exactly — only the cards have become phones, and the gaming house has become the modern betting world. — After Caravaggio, The Cardsharps (c. 1594).

A series. Caravaggio's paintings, restaged for the present.
One image at a time, no commentary.

Dan Muirhead spent 15+ years paid to make people pay attention. Now he is more interested in what is worth paying attention to. Based in Bogotá, with roots in Dallas and frequent time in Miami, he writes Bogotá Letters and profiles makers to document how cities are used versus designed, and how objects are made to be lived with. More at danmuirhead.co.

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]]><![CDATA[After Caravaggio: The Holding]]>https://danielmuirhead.substack.com/p/after-caravaggio-the-holdinghttps://danielmuirhead.substack.com/p/after-caravaggio-the-holdingFri, 15 May 2026 17:35:24 GMT

A contemporary oil painting in the style of Caravaggio's The Entombment of Christ. A child of about nine or ten, in jeans, a t-shirt, sneakers, and a small backpack half-fallen from one shoulder, is being lowered by two adults. A father in plain clothes supports the child's legs and looks directly out at the viewer. A woman in a cardigan cups the child's torso from behind, her head bowed against the child's shoulder. Behind them stand three witness figures: the child's mother with a shawl over her head, weeping into her hand; another child of the same age, partially in shadow, head bowed; and a third child with arms raised above her head, palms facing forward. The child being held is peaceful, with no visible wounds. The figures float against a pure black void, with only a pale stone slab in the foreground and a single small green shoot growing from a crack at its base. The light comes from the child's skin itself, illuminating the surrounding figures by proximity. The viewpoint is low, as if the viewer is on the ground looking up at the lowering. — After Caravaggio, The Entombment of Christ (1603).

A series. Caravaggio's paintings, restaged for the present.
One image at a time, no commentary.

Dan Muirhead spent 15+ years paid to make people pay attention. Now he is more interested in what is worth paying attention to. Based in Bogotá, with roots in Dallas and frequent time in Miami, he writes Bogotá Letters and profiles makers to document how cities are used versus designed, and how objects are made to be lived with. More at danmuirhead.co.

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]]><![CDATA[After Caravaggio: Narcissus]]>https://danielmuirhead.substack.com/p/after-caravaggio-narcissushttps://danielmuirhead.substack.com/p/after-caravaggio-narcissusFri, 15 May 2026 14:57:09 GMT

A contemporary oil painting in the style of Caravaggio's Narcissus. A young man in a dark hoodie kneels low over a wooden surface, his body curved forward in the near-symmetrical posture of the original. He holds a smartphone flat in both hands, front-facing camera active. The phone's screen is the only light source in the painting — it glows upward onto his face, illuminating his features in warm light against a near-black background. Below the wooden ledge, the surface of a dark pool faintly reflects only the back of the phone and the dim crown of his head; his face is turned away from the water, angled down toward the screen. — After Caravaggio, Narcissus (1599).

A series. Caravaggio’s paintings, restaged for the present.
One image at a time, no commentary.

Dan Muirhead spent 15+ years paid to make people pay attention. Now he is more interested in what is worth paying attention to. Based in Bogotá, with roots in Dallas and frequent time in Miami, he writes Bogotá Letters and profiles makers to document how cities are used versus designed, and how objects are made to be lived with. More at danmuirhead.co.

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]]><![CDATA[After Caravaggio: The Calling]]>https://danielmuirhead.substack.com/p/after-caravaggio-the-callinghttps://danielmuirhead.substack.com/p/after-caravaggio-the-callingFri, 15 May 2026 14:53:59 GMT

A contemporary oil painting in the style of Caravaggio's The Calling of Saint Matthew. Five people in modern clothing — hoodies, a fleece vest, button-downs — sit hunched around a wooden table in a dim room, working on open laptops. Their faces are lit from below by cold blue screen light. Coffee cups, a takeout container, an open notebook, AirPods, and tangled charging cables are scattered across the table. On the right side of the painting, a small child stands in a doorway, bathed in warm golden afternoon light pouring through a tall window behind them. The child extends one arm toward the table, hand limp and fingers drooping forward in the same gesture Christ uses in the original Caravaggio. One of the seated figures has looked up and turned toward the child, hand to his chest in a gesture of recognition. — After Caravaggio, The Calling of Saint Matthew (1600).

A new series. Caravaggio's paintings, restaged for the present.
One image at a time, no commentary.

Dan Muirhead spent 15+ years paid to make people pay attention. Now he is more interested in what is worth paying attention to. Based in Bogotá, with roots in Dallas and frequent time in Miami, he writes Bogotá Letters and profiles makers to document how cities are used versus designed, and how objects are made to be lived with. More at danmuirhead.co.

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]]><![CDATA[After Caravaggio: The Ecstasy of Saint Francis]]>https://danielmuirhead.substack.com/p/after-caravaggio-the-ecstasy-of-sainthttps://danielmuirhead.substack.com/p/after-caravaggio-the-ecstasy-of-saintSat, 02 May 2026 20:36:00 GMT

A painting in the style of Caravaggio's tenebrism. A man with the face of Caravaggio's Saint Francis lies collapsed on a bed of tropical vegetation, eyes closed, head tilted back in an expression between agony and surrender. He wears loose, rumpled white linen ceremony clothes instead of a Franciscan robe. Supporting him from behind is a larger figure — an indigenous South American shaman, bare-chested with beaded necklaces and a full feathered ceremonial headdress whose feathers fan outward in the exact compositional space of the angel's wings in Caravaggio's 1594 original. The shaman's expression is calm and knowing. In the deep background, barely visible in near-total darkness, other figures sit on the ground. A faint glow from a small fire burns in the far distance. Near the collapsed man, almost hidden in shadow, a small wooden bowl rests on the ground. The lighting, palette, and brushwork are faithful to Caravaggio — warm flesh tones against profound darkness, sourceless light illuminating only the two central figures. A restaging of Caravaggio's Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy (c. 1594–95, Wadsworth Atheneum) as an ayahuasca ceremony in contemporary South America. — After Caravaggio, Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy (c. 1594–95).

A series. Caravaggio's paintings, restaged for the present.
One image at a time, no commentary.

Dan Muirhead spent 15+ years paid to make people pay attention. Now he is more interested in what is worth paying attention to. Based in Bogotá, with roots in Dallas and frequent time in Miami, he writes Bogotá Letters and profiles makers to document how cities are used versus designed, and how objects are made to be lived with. More at danmuirhead.co.

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