Date: August 28, 2026
When the Deanery was being renovated, we had a gift for art, and the Deanery now holds a significant art collection. Perhaps the most significant painting is the one by Leo Twiggs called “The Death of George Floyd,” 2020.
We had an approach from the Gibbs Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina, for us to lend the painting for the exhibition entitled “Revelations: The Art of Leo Twiggs.” From January 30 to May 3, this painting hung with others painted by one of America’s leading artists, Â which attracted over 19,300 visitors. The exhibit did not stop there. The painting then traveled to the Florence Country Museum in Florence, South Carolina, where it was on view now from June 11 to October 11, 2026.
We’re hoping to see it back in the Deanery at the end of October. It is an extraordinary painting in so many ways. It is art communicating the tragedy and evil of racism in the United States. Every time I look at it, I find it so moving. It will be good to have it back in its home, in the Deanery, on the campus, and available for seminarians to encounter the message embodied in art.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary and the President of The General Theological Seminary.Â