Understanding the difference between democracy and fascism is necessary in order to understand and solve the crisis of today’s political world. Raphael introduced a similar polemic into artistic composition five hundred years ago, in 1520, with his last painting, The Transfiguration.
Raphael’s painting depicts two opposite stories in one, taken from the Gospels of Matthew 17 and Mark 9: The transfiguration of Christ through the glorious light of salvation in the upper part, and the disfigured story of a world gone mad, depicted through the darkness of a young boy possessed by the devil, in the lower part. The timeless problem this painting poses to the spectator is how reason and faith can be unified together to solve the tragic crisis of a world gone mad.
