Carl Jung as Magnum Opus

The colors in this oil portrait aren't random — they represent the four stages of alchemical transformation, as described by Carl Gustav Jung in connection with the process of individuation:

• Nigredo (Black) – the darkness, the descent, the confrontation with the shadow.

• Albedo (White) – purification, clarity, awakening.

• Citrinitas (Yellow) – the dawning of wisdom and inner light.

• Rubedo (Red) – the final stage of integration, unity, and rebirth.

I’ve also used real gold leaf to represent the Philosopher’s Stone — the symbol of wholeness, inner alchemy, and the union of opposites.

✨ The Magnum Opus — the "Great Work" — isn’t just an old mystical idea. It’s the path of becoming your true self. The creation of a whole, free, self-aware being. Not just surviving life, but transforming through it.

For me, it’s a joy and a kind of miracle that figures like Jung — and many other Artists in the deeper sense of the word — lived, created, and left behind legacies so powerful they continue shaping culture, psychology, and our inner worlds.

People like these turn the chaos of existence into clarity — they help transmute the raw material of the soul into gold.

Read more about art and alchemy on my website: https://www.katerinamillerartist.com/post/artist-as-alchemist