After Caravaggio: The Calling

May 15, 2026

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.

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?