Many Mormons might have a favorite new painting of Jesus Christ after they see the blockbuster, $1.2 million "Sacred Gifts" exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art. Both the director and the curator of the museum believe Christians everywhere will be touched by the spirit of a 19th-century painting of Gethsemane few of them have ever seen from a painter whose name few of them have ever heard.
More than 200,000 people are expected to visit the exhibit, which opens today and runs through May — 30,000 people already have secured free tickets at sacredgifts.byu.edu/tickets, including "sellouts" on Friday and Saturday — but "Agony in the Garden" by Frans Schwartz may resonate particularly with members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.