Babylon,+the+Great,+Is+Fallen

Date: 1992
 * [[image:https://s3.amazonaws.com/saam.media/files/styles/x_large/s3/images/1997/1997.124.28_1a.jpg?itok=U0ZAAVMH width="290" height="289" link="@https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/babylon-the-great-is-fallen-36119"]] || Title: **Babylon, the Great, Is Fallen**

Artist: **Robert Roberg** Born: Spokane, Washington 1943

Medium: acrylic, oil, tempera and glitter on canvas Dimensions: 39 7/8 x 39 3/4 in. (101.3 x 101.0 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment

Accession: 1997.124.28 || Robert Roberg painted many images of the Apocalypse to warn people of what could happen if they did not follow God. Babylon, the Great, is Fallen illustrates a scene from the book of Revelation in which Saint John describes the destruction of the city (Tom Patterson, Contemporary Folk Art, Treasures of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2001). In Revelation, Babylon appears as a temptress, "sitting on a scarlet beast . . . dressed in purple and scarlet and holding a gold cup filled with everything vile and with the impurities of her prostitution." The seven green hills below her are the kings who were seduced by her wicked ways, while the water represents all the nations under her power. Roberg surrounded the crumbling buildings with huge flashes of lightning and fluorescent colors to emphasize the violence of God's wrath. This artwork is currently on view on the first floor of the Museum in the Folk Art galleries.
 * About the Artwork: **

"I have painted with the pure motives of sharing my visions of God with anyone who'll stop and look and listen." Robert Roberg, G. H. Vander Elst, Non-Traditional Folk Art, Tennessee (n.d.), Chuck and Jan Rosenak research material, 1990-1999, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

"The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the Great was remembered in God's presence; He gave her the cup filled with the wine of His fierce anger." Revelation 16:19

Roberg's Letter to SAAM
 * Resources: **

Luce Center Biography <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">About the Artist <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">SAAM Collections Page
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Links: **