The Museo del Novecento is a museum of twentieth-century art in Milan, Lombardy in northern Italy. It showcases a range of art and artists most of which are Italian. The Museo del Novecento celebrates 20th century Italian culture and artistic heritage with the final aim of reaching an ever wider audience, established in 2010.
The Collection celebrates 20th century Italian art selections. The exhibition gathers approximately 400 works displayed in chronological order. The initial date is 1902, the year of the Quarto Stato by Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo, to whom is dedicated an entire hall. The collection show cases paintings from the early 1900’s by Pablo Picasso to abstract artist Paul Klee. The Collection pays tribute to international avant-garde movements: avant-garde means art that is innovatory, introducing or explores new forms or subject matters. It first appeared with reference to art in France in the first half of the nineteenth century however can be traced back to as early as the 1850s, the movement also promotes radical social reforms and often go hand-in-hand with controversy.
This piece caught my eye the most due to the bright palette. This piece is called 'Composition' by Wassily Kandinsky who was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as the pioneer of abstract art, born in 1866. This water colour painting was created in 1916 for the study of "Bild mit zwei roten Flecken" which translated from German to English means 'Picture with two red spots' which is now lost and only recorded in photographic reproductions. The idea of two reds spots clearly highlights the focal point in the painting where the red is present. Red is the colour of fire and blood and so often symbolzes energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination which is key as the dept created in this peice shows themes of power.
This watercolour "Composition" is structured to present a 'recurrent, dynamic diagonal principle'. ( Google Arts and Culture ) this posits how Kandinsky's use of amorphous lines to create a pattern rather than a subjective shape.
The bleeding of the watercolours creates the contours of the biomorphic shapes and the lines leading from the busiest section of the watercolour emphasise the composition and use of rule of thirds which ensures the focal point of the painting is not directly in the centre and that the painting is not overly symmetrical, this could infer the chaos and confusion felt amongst Society globally at this time in 1916 as war was taking place however this juxtaposes the bright colours and explosion of colours creating a sense of celebration. This is important as the use of natural shades such as green and blue connotes hope and the significance of appreciating nature due in war times.
Kandinsky uses a range of warm and cool hues to guide the eye. The warmer tones in the top left corner are juxtaposed by the cooler tones in the bottom right corner, this is successful as it allows the shapes to blend into the background and the use of dept also brings the contours to life. The use of bright red hues and darker black shades are controlled while lighter blue and yellow hues cover a larger area. I like the lack of precision and i would also like to experiment with using lines in order to create dept.
The composition is powerful as the idea of the focal point traveling down from the top of the painting infers ideas of destruction and posits themes of war. The most concentrated and warm hues link to themes of fire like a bomb being dropped through the sky. This is significant as this was Kandinsky first piece since 1914 - the start of WW1. This piece was also regarded as "degenerate arte" by the Nazis showing its war reference. Mark making is also used in between the lines which adds themes of energy and power.
This exhibition successfully showcases not only the pieces of work produced in the twentieth century but also signifies historical events that took place. The 10 masterpieces infer a range of art types all complimenting each other. The reoccurring themes and palettes of browns and neutrals connote emotions of pain and struggle seen throughout the twentieth century. However this is juxtaposed by bright hues and themes of nature seen in abstract art portraying a time of social change for the better.
My Response:
I experimented with watercolours to create a range of relaxed lines forming biomorphic shapes. I experimented with using fine liners to create the dimensions of the shapes as strong, bold black lines are seen throughout Wassily Kandinsky's work. My outcome was successful as it posits no strong forms similar to Wassily Kandinsky's work however next time i will develop the piece on a larger background focusing on adding colour to the background aswell.
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