John Henry Fuseli (1781). The Nightmare [oil on canvas]. The Detroit Institute of Arts.

Fuseli’s The Nightmare highlights the conceptual differences between the Enlightenment and the stylistic reaction to it in the visual arts as represented by Romanticism. Works of the enlightenment, in short, were Apollonian in tone, emphasizing reason and moderation both conceptually and formally. Master works of Romanticism, to which this work belongs, painted the emotional extremes and instinctual forces generated within human experience in a positive, or at least celebratory, light. In the example of The Nightmare, inspiring an emotional impression is clearly a primary goal. To the tastes of many experts and critics of the time, the lack of any attempt to temper these extremes was offensive. 

The fantastical vision Fuseli has created certainly inspires dread. While the scene is rendered as a dramatic, tenebristic dream-state, the direct and gaze of the demon transports the observer into the woman’s nightmare. The woman glows from an internal source of purity, her body clearly contorted in an unnatural manner, afflicted with the weight of a sinuous, mincing demon, all of which is reflective of the composition’s disturbing tone. The dense values, impression of heat and calibrated indistinction of edges transport the scene from reality to hell in a dream-state. There is a simultaneous distance and close relationship to the observer. 

The allegorical content of this work is referenced by the erotic pose and dress of the subject and the particular kind of creature that is seated on the center of her body. It is an incubus, a nearly archetypical concept, which is a demon that forces intercourse with a sleeping or defenseless woman. Different cultures throughout history have had their own version or versions of the creature, which reduces the Romantic content of this masterpiece to its emotional content. 

Directional forces and emotional content would create an unbalanced composition if not for the formal stability Fuseli establishes. Even this is in conflict, summarized by the tenebristic use of tones, but he has created a sense of stability with tonal density that results in an asymmetrically balanced composition. Typically, dominant formal choices have a binding effect on a composition, but Fuseli uses a masculine tone and a sense of heat to create tension and interest. As typical, formal equivalencies in chroma, value and positive/negative space also generate interest. While emotionally stark, taken in whole this composition is tempered.

Jacques-Louis David (1784 to 1785). Oath of the Horatii [oil on canvas]. Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Organization and is represented by the lateral arrangement of three figurative blocks across a backdrop of an orderly arcade. However, stability is skewed in how interactions favor the left side of the canvas and passive desperation is placed on equal footing in its relationship to the picture plane. The composition verges on hyper-realism; the brothers gesture to the focus of their oath, while their father appeals to the Gods. The observer’s relationship to the witnessed events is tenuous. 

Works by masters such as Caravaggio and Georges de la Tour are referenced by an enriched sense of drama based on formal and conceptual measures. Value bathes the interactions of the foreground in light, generating a strong impression that the favor or at least attention of the Gods is directed on them. Single-point perspective is built in a similar manner to Perugino’s Delivery of the Keys to Saint Peter in the tiling and Fra Angelico’s Annunciation in the arcade. Though an impression of fantasy is strong, the order-establishing measures place the observer near at hand, fully engaged in the gravity of the moment. 

The pleading disposition of the father and sinuous power of his sons is hard to miss. By pledging their lives, and relinquishing their weapons (which seem to be 18^th century rather than Roman Kingdom-era weapons) they seek to demonstrate humility and receive a blessing. These interactions place unmistakable directional forces on the father, not to mention his location on the canvas. Residual focus is placed on the remaining two subject blocks. 

A theme of nationalistic sacrifice is repeated by the oath and the tragedy the women will soon be forced to endure. One is the wife of one of the men (the Curatii) who the Horatii are to fight; another is betrothed to one of the Curatii. No matter the outcome, the women will suffer, while the men may live. The message of sacrifice for the nation-state was endorsed by the French monarchy during the tumultuous time leading up to the French revolution. Paintings such as this one also represent a conceptual inversion of the lighthearted nature of the Rococo style.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1876). Moulin de la Galette [oil on canvas]. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.

The single greatest strength of this work is the simply amazing way Renoir has crafted a value pattern integrated with the repeated, glowing warmth of people’s faces. Formal development is uniform, which has a constricting effect on areas of focus, which in turn does much to highlight the mood of this work. Interactions, analogous contrasts in size and figurative locations on-canvas become secondary centers of focus. By tipping the perspective slightly, a greater field of view is available, and an interest-generating element of drama is added. 
Renoir has managed to create a work of believable illusionary depth with figures that are decorative in character. Texturing is universally uniform, and combined with Renoirs’ use of color purity, they have a flattening effect on the composition. Renoir has installed visually pleasing, harmonious and analogous relationships in relative shape size and a blended combination of warmth and chroma. In fact, even the blues, greens and blacks are slightly warmed, supporting the sense of heat glowing off the canvas. 

The carefree, relaxed mood of this composition is communicated quite well through the interactions between figures and their gestures and expressions, not to mention the before-mentioned cohesive formal relationships. Renoir expressed a need that his creations capture a certain sense of beauty, of peace and calm, stating quite appropriately that “There are quite enough unpleasant things in life without the need for us to manufacture more[1].” There is a certain idealistic tone in the youthful condition of the subjects and their nearly platitudinous interactions, but this is not a clean break from a believable sense of reality. 

[1] Stokstad, Marilyn (2005, 2008). Art History, vols. I & II, third edition. Pearson, Prentice Hall Publishing. 

Ilya Repin (1870 to 73). Bargehaulers on the Volga [oil on canvas]. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.

Energy is controlled and methodical but pushes to the left, off the canvas resulting in asymmetric yet deliberate formal balance. The position and angle of the haulers emphasize their movement. This, combined with the painting’s photographic qualities and the direct gazes of the subjects places the observer at a cold distance void of the drama characteristic of works by artists such as Kollwitz, who do more to reach out to the observer and seize their empathy. Multiple functions are addressed by this work: The documentation of a specific event in history, release on the part of the artist and, probably most influential of all, an impersonal attempt at impacting the observer. 
The optical reflection of reality is characteristic of earlier works of the century by artists such as Courbet or Turner. Repin uses relative value restriction to define subject against background. Effortless depth is based on a form of convergence, diminution, adjustment in detail relative to ground and value-based atmospheric perspective. Relative formal development and a sense of “value order” (not to mention recognizability) place primary focus on the forward-leaning block of subjects. The steady repetition of their forms directs the eye to the focus of their labors. The only source of drama is the masterful choice Repin used in choosing canvas size and orientation. 

As is often the case with artistic movements and trends, works such as this were a reaction against convention. A defining characteristic of Russian Realism, to which this work belongs, was that it was a societal and cultural reaction rather than simply formal or stylistic. The 1861 abolition of serfdom in Russia coincided with a breaking of state control of artistic expression. The cultural break from convention was that subject matter became more responsible and socially relevant. The stylistic break was that art was no longer regarded as a passive activity; as the title of the movement suggests, realism in visual expression became favored. 

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1875). Nocturne in Black and Gold, the Falling Rocket [oil on canvas]. Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan.

Whistler seems to have created a work of realism that deliberately confuses its subject matter. I believe he communicates the terminal arc of a celebratory rocket well. The confusion about the nature of this piece and directionality threating to push beyond the left edge of the canvas create a distinct lack of balance pictorially and in movement. The theme of drama is repeated in Whistler’s masterful choice to juxtapose extremes in tone to create what is effectively the subject against a stable, nebulous background. Formal equivalencies, a version of balance, are nearly impossible to find. This sparkling value pattern is foundational to tracking the motion of the rocket.

Whistler takes advantage of a nearly total lack of light to reduce color to a diluted and simple split-complementary color scheme. Warmed oranges are set in opposition to blues and aqua greens. An interesting contradiction of this work is how a wide and open space is developed using dense, massive tones. Another is the artificial horizontal arrangement of some of the “sparks”; clearly a town is nearby on the other side of the water body. Combine this with color temperature and value contrast and a unique sense of plastic depth is created.

Though figurative subjects range from indistinct to ghost-like, the reasonable realism and textural layering leave an impression of the smell of burning powder and chilled night air. While the energy of motion is unmistakable, the canvas captures falling sparks in a frozen moment in time. Whistler masterfully binds through a consistent texturing, diluted chroma and blended definition of forms. Some experts believe this masterpiece is the most appropriate single work to point to for initiating the formal series of movements towards modern abstraction because of its non-literal subject matter presented in a literal manner. What is left over is usually confusion, and a natural, physical reaction to what is depicted.

Georges Seurat (1884 to 86). A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte [oil on canvas]. The Art Institute of Chicago. Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection.

Seurat builds a work nearly dividing the realism/abstraction scale in equal halves by using a variety of colors that are both value- and purity-based. The scene is crystal-clear with beautiful diminution-based depth receding into space. One of the ingenious aspects to this work is he accomplishes this with figures that are minimally modeled and nearly planar. Their diffuse arrangement, doll-like development and individualism based on dress and not on more humanized features sets a formal gap between artist and observer. 
I believe Egyptian qualities are foundational to this work’s deliberate and masterful design. Near fractional representation can be detected. Figures are oriented parallel to the picture plane, or at a consistent forward, oblique angle approaching perpendicular. This consistency offers a mathematical connection to other works of Seurat such as Circus Sideshow. Careful study reveals subject order based on a hieratic scale. Pictorial form and balance offer more visual variety than typical of ancient Egyptian murals at the exchange of literal, symbol-based meaning. 

Purity- and value-based compositional patterning is a clean break from ancient Egyptian art. The meticulous, exhaustive development of form and interplay of color is set against a seamless backdrop of consistent texture and intuitively pleasing positive and negative space. Given Seurat’s personal views, it’s possible the impersonality and stiffness of the figures and vaguely garish color scheme is a cynical observation of middle class Parisian lifestyles. Another interpretation of this work is that it depicts a location that is normally an eyesore in an idealized fashion. The tragedy of the latter view is that the pristine and peaceful vision Seurat offers in this work is possible in reality. 

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1913). Street, Berlin [oil on canvas]. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

This is a work of discordant energy; it clamors for the attention of the casual observer in overlapping ways. Progress observation builds an impression of disquiet and deceptive simplicity. There is a deliberate effort to distort edges and forms to align in an angled manner that gathers energy towards the top, compresses it downward, and releases pressure toward and out of the bottom of the canvas. When this strategy is merged with the distorted perspective, tipping of the ground, and formal flatness, a distinct impression of missing balance remains. One of the harmonizing measures is the designed manner values arranged and sparkle across the composition. 
The figures are clad in ostentation, but this is effectively the only objective trait they carry. As mentioned before, their forms are subjectively stylized and angled, and they carry repeated mincing, sharp expressions and poses. The use of color is subjective and dramatically contrasting. The pinks and blues share value, but their hues, and that of the purples, clash on the canvas. As formal measures, they are all “divas”, which is not healthy for compositional moderation. When blacks and whites, values of equal subjective energy, are added to the fold, near-chaos is sparked in the composition. With this sense of discord, final primary focus probably settles on the faces of the two women because of the scarcity of white, which in this case is used to highlight them. 

Diminution hints and plastic depth, but forms and textures are as decorative as the colors. Space is shallow; when the combination of formal choices is globally considered, Kirchner seems to be saying that this is the condition of the subject’s characters. The primary subjects are actually prostitutes, as evidenced by the enormous feathers in their hats and lining of their jackets. The feminine tone of this composition can only be regarded as cynical, but not toward women in general. The men seem to be clones, and this combination of figures, and the way they are rendered, reveals Kirchner’s opinion of metropolitan life more than anything. One of the great tragedies of this masterpiece is its subjective documentation of ostentation in Germany a year before World War One.

Anslem Kiefer (1974). Heath of the Bradenburg March [oil on canvas]. Stedelijk Van Abbenmuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

My understanding of German unification is general at best. Of all the regions that comprise the nation, Bradenburg traces the most direct connection between the area’s permanent settlement in the 8^th or 9^th century up to today. It is also where Berlin is located. “Heath of the Bradenburg March” references the bounty provided the nation state by the allied transit into the heart of Nazi power, or that of the Nazi war machine disbursing on its attempt of European conquest. Either way, the “bounty” is total devastation of the countryside and absolute breaking of the nation state. 
The composition has a unique impressionistic effect in how areas of value and diluted color, in combination with stalky lines, blend together to create recognizable areas and details; there are few clearly delineated shapes. Convergence and atmospheric perspective based on proximity in color temperature create pictorial depth. Kiefer sets the stage for this work’s content by building stability using rough texture, diluted color, vague forms and a globally-blended value strategy. 

Emptiness occupies the mind. An unmistakable impression of the self-inflicted and total damage the German state visited on itself is communicated. The composition places the viewer in the middle of this wasteland, the road the only reference to any sort of direction. The rough application of textures and generous blending of “thud-like” colors emphasize an impression of death. The ground seems rotten, then air noxious. Kiefer seems to be drawing from the same cynical energy of artists such as Lam and Bacon generated by the meltdown in Europe. 

Wifredo Lam (1950). Zambezia, Zambezia [oil on canvas].

This work has a distinct cubist quality in how forms are forced to conform to the angle of the picture plane. The subjects are severely reduced and, like Dali’s Birth of Liquid Desires, carry simultaneous conditions. The recognizability of feminine qualities is the only literal trait of the composition, giving the blue figure human qualities and leading one to conclude that its formal treatment is an expression of its emotional or mental state. The forms to its right are distinctly connected but discrete in their differences in angularity and color. It’s possible the first form is in a state of change. 
Formally, Lam binds the canvas together through the planar quality of the forms, their reliance on line to define them, and how they are formatted with the same texture. Ambiguity seems to be the whole point; subjects are split between recognizability and ambiguous states, calm and defensive, angular and biomorphic. They are arranged in a static, almost still-life pose that offers a form of stability with their relationship to the observer. Their development is even throughout the canvas, causing each area to pull an equal amount of focus with the exception of the feminine qualities that are seen. The dense, warm, indistinct realm they are placed in subtly contrasts against the uncompromising definition of the forms. 

Lam was an ardent anti-colonialist of Cuban national and Chinese, African and Cuban cultural decent. In this work of cubist-surrealism, Lam blends ritualistic forms used in a polytheistic spiritualistic series of practices known as santería. His intention was to impact the psyche of cultures of European decent for their centuries-long worldwide exploitation of indigenous peoples. The depth and power of his feeling is well-reflected in the expressive energy of the painting, which emphasizes emotion more than a crystalized, intellectual message. 

Jackson Pollock (1950). Autumn Rhythm (#30) [oil on canvas]. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. George A. Hearn Fund, 1957.

Clearly the concept of “autumn” is the subject. There is nothing objective here, only a haphazard yet homogeneous distribution of fundamental artistic elements: Line, value, purity, pattern, texture and negative space. What remains is the impression of decay characteristic of the waning of the yearly cycle of seasons. Using this small collection of constituents, Pollock has created a masterpiece of Abstract Expressionism charged with movement. While the application of energy is instinctual and organic in its effortlessness, compositionally it is reasonably stable. Nearly symmetrical balance applies, in fact. 
There is absolute domination of rough, haphazard, omnidirectional line; the voids they leave behind create a pattern of shapes across the canvas. They are varied by their values in tangled masses, which imply a hint of plastic depth in the summation of their directionalities. Careful inspection reveals crispness in their definitions, which has a flattening effect. Gestalt more than anything defines the shallow depth we see. The juxtapositions in light, middle and black values define the formal subject matter. 

By evenly distributing energy, movement and applying sharp global definition, more “room” is reserved for this work’s emotional and conceptual content. Harmonizing relationships predominate; value builds interest. Arguably, this could qualify as a work of process art; evidence of it’s creation is crystal-clear. The agitated, chaotic energy and movement of strokes across the canvas reflects the unique tensions of the time period as well. 

Salvador Dalí (1931 to 32). Birth of Liquid Desires [oil and collage on canvas]. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

Dali is inviting the observer into a realm of alternate reality, built on a form of realism. Modeling and a consistent light source build a relatable sense of depth. By using colors that describe the concepts of sky and grass in an expected manner, the puzzle he has set up as a “conceptual still life” is easier to access. Dali relies on deliberately applied contrasts and tension to create the agitated energy present in this work.

By placing a recognizable, if deranged, face in the center of the canvas, highlighted by a void, the observer identifies with the its condition. Masculine and feminine are blended in a dancing gesture, though the central figure is kneeling on a classical architectural object. A simultaneous conditional state is present in both figures: Insides attempting to become outside, gender, and living versus inanimate; the woman’s leg turns into a curtain rod, and her head a bouquet.

Simultaneous and polarized conditions are apparent in the forms that reference central figure’s mental state. The upward, thought-balloon inflection of the dense forms working against their fluid, downward movement; the abrupt blending of knife-like, rigid forms with softer a softer plane, and stark contrasts in value. This form’s malleable character is evident in the footprint indentations that bind it to the massive form beneath it.

Solid and liquid, the biomorphic structure appears to shift and change shape because of the mass/void interplay, indentations and surface smoothness. It’s lava lamp-like quality and size are enhanced by the tiny, dense object that rests on its largest lobe. The structure invites a second ghoul-like form to tumble into a new and equally contradictory realm, the possibility of which takes no effort for the observer to assume. Latent shifts in scale are present when the small size of the human figures is compared to the colossal proportions of the cellular structures.

Dali favors energy and contrasts, causing them to occupy the same conceptual or formal space, over stability, although the composition is stable. As a matter of fact, he did describe this painting as a hybrid of images generated from his dreams and nightmares. In the end, the interactions of the subjects and meaning of this work largely dependent on the mood and predisposition of the observer.

Aaron Douglas (1934). Aspects of Negro Life: From Slavery through Reconstruction [oil on canvas]. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.

Formally, this composition is a beautiful example of value-based rhythm and pattern. Vertically-oriented figures are arranged horizontally across the canvas, building the clear and wordless narrative at a steady pace. The somewhat dramatic canvas dimensions and interlacing of faunal motifs complement this rhythm. Douglas’ use of value is simply masterful; value builds the narrative, generates conflict-based interest, and drives the emotional content forward. He uses texture, a specific edge character, color purity and consistent shape severity to unite the canvas. 
The strategy Douglas uses to create pictorial depth is as masterful as the rhythm he has built. Plastic depth is built using strictly planar forms that are adjusted in opacity. By merging forms together depending on where they are in relation to the picture plane, steadily decreasing contrast, a form of atmospheric perspective, creates the organized sense of depth uniquely characteristic to this work. He combines this with diminution and the flattening effects of a subtle and impure color scheme.

Douglas reserves the most extremes of contrast to highlight the central figure bearing a voting ballot, which radiates with a light of hope. To the right, a light of truth shines from the Thirteenth Amendment surrounded by celebrating figures. As appropriate to the composition is the motif of cotton blossoms that flows across the canvas, binding the figures in bondage to those gesturing upward with arms free.

El Lissitzky (1923). Proun Space [wall and space decoration]. Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

This non-objective work establishes order through impressions of solidness against volume on the five planes that are effectively individual canvases. The subjects are severely reduced and planar formal shapes that impart their expressive qualities through differences in formatting and arrangement. The canvases either gather suspended weight into groups of form or project a more diffuse application of weight and energy. 
Differences from canvas-to-canvas are based on rectilinear shape, exacting value stops and spatial arrangement and angularity. Lissitzky unifies the canvases through these formatting choices and the progressive and even elemental complication they individually build. The repeated square dimensions of each canvas express their equality in importance. Both static and asymmetric balance is represented. 
The floor is the most basic plane; a single form of uniform gray. The ceiling adds the element of line and separates the values that create the gray of the floor into its constituents. To the viewer’s left, the dimensions of square are varied, creating rectangles, and the complication of positive and negative space is established. This canvas adds color purity, and on the right, the complication of angularity is included. The final, central canvas blends these formats and calibrations together, further complicating with a tiny spherical form. 
Value more than anything is responsible for the comprehensive sense of weight and definition of space. Pictorial depth is dependent on gestalt and nothing else. The argument could be made that this is an extremely rare example of an achromatic work that still contains color purity, but even the reddish-orange copper contains identifiable hue. It is impossible to possess hue without purity and purity without hue. 
Positioned just outside the cubical volume the five planes create, the eye follows horizontal edges across the space, pausing where shape populations become dense. Lissitzky uses line character, shape type and severity in color and value to bind the works to each other and within themselves. By varying size, spatial and depth arrangement, and favoring negative space, Lissitzky develops a sense of energy. This work represents masterful academic application of harmonizing dominances to build “outnumbered” and interest-generating conflicts. 
By using such severe shapes and basic formal arrangements, Lissitzky was attempting to promote concise, orderly thought in the individuals occupying the space. This is a defining characteristic of the Russian Constructivist movement, which some argue he initiated. Self-expression is selfish; visual expression must serve a purpose benefiting society. 

Frida Kahlo (1939). Two Fridas [oil on canvas]. Museo de Arte Moderno, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City.

Kahlo is communicating in a literal self-portrait internal conflict and the effects of lifelong medical complications due to serious personal injury. This, combined with the composition’s stiff tone, edge it toward minor abstraction on an otherwise realistic and individualized pair of subjects who are the same subject. Stability and balance, which build both order and tension, characterize this work’s formal energy, while conceptually more force is used. 
The “two Fridas” are of European, on the left, and Mexican, on the right, decent. This is referenced by the difference in dress; the bodies of the two figures are near reflections of each other. When Kahlo was a teenager, she suffered a serious injury due to a bus accident that resulted in a lifetime of medical treatments and surgeries. This is loosely referenced by the exposure of her internal organs and veins and her attempt to stop the bleeding by using forceps on the left. The dress on the figure-left appears brace-like on her neck. Through all of this, Kahlo is offering comfort to herself, referencing a sense of isolation. 
Definition and modeling clarify the foreground subjects against a backdrop of amorphous, cloud-like forms. This sets up an analogous relationship in shape between figurative and scenic forms. The entire canvas bears the same level of development, which pushes the conceptual meaning of the composition forward. The pose and gaze of both Fridas are direct. Time has no meaning. The composition could benefit from slightly better value-based definition with the figure on the left. 
A great accomplishment of Kahlo, who lived from 1907 to 54, was her ability to elegantly communicate complicated personal truths in a literal manner. While her contemporaries credit her style as being autobiographical, I find it self-absorbed. In the example of the Two Fridas, she expresses confusion about her self-identity, because she finds her European and indigenous Mexican heritages to be incongruous. 

John Sloan (1907). Election Night [oil on canvas]. Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, Marion Stratton Gould Fund.

Energy in this boisterous work of realism is abundant and swirls in a bursting manner, but always directed within the canvas. The measured arrangement of light and middling values places more pictorial weight towards the right side of the canvas, but the composition is reasonably balanced. Communicating the celebratory mood of a segment of the population that already benefits from the cultural norms of metropolitan American society is the driving force behind this work. 
A roiling pattern of colorful, rounded forms unfurls from left to right across the canvas. Their playful warmth is emphasized and given further definition by the line of rectilinear, cold forms following the single-point perspective lines that sink into the background. Progressively smaller, blended forms and edges support the sense of depth inherent to this work. The color strategy is a distant third in establishing this plastic depth; neutral reds are set in opposition to cyanish-greens, with warmed yellows applied as well. 
Global formal development applies, which causes sharp contrasts in color and value to place primary focus on the woman front-and-center. Her attention is directed to her left, but the activity of the figure behind her leaves an impression as well. Individual moments of impossible highlighting are scattered throughout the scene, repeating the same message of celebration, which the observer is participating in. Though the street is packed, Sloan has communicated a certain sense of hollowness in his development of the tonal pattern. 
Sloan was considered the leading figure of the American Ashcan School of artistic expression. It was known for creating works that depicted both conventional and more realistic, ie “street level” or grimy, aspects of city life. Their works were rough and criticized for being incomplete. This work is a hybrid of street-level sketches Sloan put together one night during a spontaneous election celebration. 
The process is evident in specific canvas areas as well as in the generally rough rendering of the scene. This treatment is effective at communicating the energy of the revelers. The carefree attitude of economic openness characteristic of the early 20^th century is well documented. The unavoidable price that would be paid is evident in the sinister undertones Sloan has woven into the work. 

Kazimir Malevich (1915). Suprematist Painting (Eight Red Rectangles) [oil on canvs]. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

Absolute, conceptual, non-objective abstraction applies; the subject is unrecognizable beyond the elemental idea of “rectangle”; the simplicity is difficult to untangle. One thing for certain is that the blocks are the subject and the field of white is the background. “Randomness” is not at work here; the moments of tension, orientation of movement and formal arrangements create dynamic, unbalanced energy which is also deliberate. 
The figures relate in severity, rectilinear shape, color, decorativeness and general orientation. These qualities provide this work with its rigid sense of order. The figures differ in relative size, proportion to length and width and carry minor adjustments in how they’re oriented. Diminution is at work, infusing what is initially a planar composition with depth. Gestalt between the larger forms and between them and the smaller is what implies this depth, as opposed to dramatic differences in size, which would result in shallow depth. 
Tension is at work between the two largest blocks; the slightly more dramatic rotation of the larger implies its dominance. It also places this composition’s first focal point. This dominant form is also in conflict with the largest block of all, which is the canvas. The only possible reference to the observer is in how the forms are viewed at a perfectly perpendicular angle to one of their planes. 
One of the primary paths objective art took towards abstraction was Cubism, which achieved its greatest degree of abstraction in 1912 with works such as Picasso’s Ma Jolie. The group of artists that comprised the core of the Cubist movement bent the direction of their work back towards realism in the years after, but the Russian Suprematist artists achieved the non-objective abstraction many consider what would have been the continuation of the Cubists. In his Suprematist Painting, Malevich is attempting to use color and shape to reveal the inherent potential these elements have for expressing order and energy. 

Pablo Picasso (1911 to 12). Ma Jolie [oil on canvas]. The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Formally, the distribution of weight and energy are both deliberate and diffuse. Elementally, equivalencies are employed more than overwhelming proportions. While the subject matter objectively abstract, the arrangement and formal treatment of the canvas instills a “sense of order” on its own; static asymmetry applies. Value-based patterning is foundational to the expressiveness of this masterpiece, as is a combination of blended and incised value restriction. 
The composition is dominated by diluted chroma, severe shape, and homogeneous value that, combined with line, defines shapes. The “logical order” of this composition is the simultaneous display of a single object, a young woman playing a stringed instrument, where one side is bathed in light, and the opposite is in shadow. The fragmenting of one side is the other’s “negative space”, and vice versa. 
Picasso carefully arranges both planes on the single, flat picture plane, masterfully implying a sense of depth organic to this composition.  A measured application of modeling in individual fragments and a more “global” sense of modeling when the pieces are considered in total support this depth. Fragments are rotated, overlap, are calibrated in their “solidness”, penetrate each other and imply tension with each other. 
Ma Jolie (“My Pretty One”) has a focus strategy similar to Marc’s The Large Blue Horses. The subject is…well, subjective. It’s an idea. Unmistakable grid-like movement is built in the rectilinear forms arranged at perpendicular angles to each other. More jarring, discordant energy is created by the edges running at a somewhat consistent vertically oblique angle and a slight conflict of rounded versus rigid lines and edges. Edge definition is also vertically-oriented, coming into focus towards the center and blending at the terminals. The perspective of the observer seems to be stationary, while her or his field of vision is forced into the smaller area of the canvas. 
So what is the idea? Besides what has been mentioned (two perspectives), creating a sense of formal order seems to be Picasso’s goal. He demonstrates his artistic mastery by employing comparatively sparse disharmonious choices to keep this work from becoming static. The subject is not the model that provided the content for the fragments; the fragments themselves, their arrangement, and their impact on the observer is this work’s content. 

Franz Marc (1911). The Large Blue Horses [oil on canvas]. Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

The canvas projects an impression of undulating motion more than any other single idea. Their development and definitions seem to be generated from instinctual rather than deliberate queues. Formally, compositional unification is effortless, but the sense of energy Mark has generated makes this a conceptual work that is something more than what is seen. Communicating an impression of the sense of motion unique to wild horses is his purpose, and he is successful. 
This is a work of repetition; to offer a note of perceptual reality, Marc develops the creatures with minimal recognizability and organizes the fore- and backgrounds through stark differences in value, color temperature, and a complementary color strategy. Chroma and global detail tend to flatten the composition. Value and positive/negative space are locked together. By compressing the field of view, enlarging the forms of the horses and relying on nearly chromatic color, their movement is intensified. 
In breaking down formal contrasts and equivalencies, the combination most responsible for the galloping sense of rhythm winding its way across the canvas is a unique definition of edge that builds the steady curved edges. Asymmetry results from the horizontal dominance of edges and motion pushing an otherwise approximately symmetrical formal composition to the left. Marc uses a life-like, global texture, chroma, somewhat severe embellishment and faunal shape tone to harmonize and bind the composition. 
Marc was from Munich but identified with the Der Blaue Reiter movement which carried a sense of spirituality and the belief that, based on religious reasons, Moscow would soon become the capital of the World. Because the focus of this masterpiece is an idea, the composition is evenly developed. Subjectivity is so pervasive that it verges on objective abstraction. Marc effectively suggests the harmony in which these creatures live with their surroundings in how they and nature are formally treated; only jarring contrasts in hue separate them. 

Käthe Kollwitz (1903). The Outbreak [etching]. Kupferstichkabinett, Staaliche Museen zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz.

An interesting aspect to this works abstract character is that it’s based not on the defined, elementary shapes and their interactions characteristic of early 20^th century art, but a blended, unifying use of value and contrasting highlights. The foreground figure carries an unmistakable thrust of rage that is reflected in the wave-like block of revolting peasants. Kollwitz masterfully unifies a sense of balance threatening to destabilize the canvas with unexpected compositional choices in perspective and figurative orientation. 
The heavy and strongly subjective use of value does well to impress the gritty, severe living conditions of the average person in the mob. Value both flattens and provides pictorial depth in this work. The depth is based on an interesting combination of value contrasts between the shadow-like foreground figure and the person foremost in the crowd. The entire composition has a strongly unified, subtractive character which allows the spirit-like highlights and directional thrusts of the mob to build a system of interest that is unique to this work. 
The combination of the energy of the foreground figure, mob, and pictorial weight create an appropriately unbalanced composition. The perspective of the observer is slightly lowered and tipped. Energy and size alone cause the raging figure to dominate the canvas; everything else is an orchestration of her leadership. Kollwitz uses a shift from muted to strongly contrasting formatting to bring the mob to life. Rapid, gestural and figurative line more than shape builds this composition after value. The subordination of shape largely unifies the canvas with interest generated by the relatively sharp focus of the foreground figure. 
Kollwitz was an Expressionist who felt a great deal of sympathy for the working poor. This theme is clearly communicated in this etching, one of seven compositions she titled the Peasant’s War series documenting atrocities committed against the peasantry of 17^th century Germany. In this one masterpiece, she has simultaneously communicated the inhumane conditions of this population and their rage. An additional layer of tragedy is applied to the series in light of events in Europe that were soon to follow. 

Paul Gauguin (1894). Mahana No Atua (Day of the God) [oil on canvas]. The Art Institute of Chicago.

Gauguin has grounded this work firmly in the right side of the semi-abstract portion of the abstraction scale. A specific and decorative way of figure modeling, combined with a peaceful, chromatic color palette, creates the nearest visual equivalent possible to experiencing a sun-bathed Hawaiian (correction: Tahitian) beach. Relying on flattened shapes, Gauguin has composed a remarkable impression of three-dimensional space through relative size, edge and detail blending, and the before-mentioned modelling. 

A sense of calm, lateral movement is created by the forms that seem to float in the expanses of the water and sky. In this way, a sense of peaceful eternity is referenced. Weightless color formats the canvas, verging on subjectivity to communicate the warm calm of the scene. Attention clearly focuses on the three young figures in the dead-center of the canvas, but the shadow-like density of the deity-figure quickly draws focus and infuses the emotional content of this work with a sense of the supernatural. Forms of similar density and varying states of definition are distributed across the canvas intermingling with spirit-like masses of light color. 

The central figure coyly or innocently gazes at the observer, placing her or him at a slightly elevated point relative to her position. Like Cassatt’s Maternal Caress, Eastern influences are discoverable in how forms are formatted with contour lines and a colorful ink-wash style. A form of balance is struck in how the only artificial form in the composition has a sense of mass that contradicts the light feel of the rest of the canvas which is populated by natural forms. 

Gauguin is expressing the simple and pure beauty of living in a world untouched by the influence of impersonal, mechanical and masculine western culture. Formally and pictorially, the women of the scene live in a warm, unpressured world of balance and harmony with their benevolent deity. In fact, the world of reality and that of the spiritual blend together in an assumed, instinctual way. In this way Mahana No Atua becomes a conceptual rather than perceptual work of art. 

Mary Cassatt (1879). Woman in a Loge [oil on canvas]. Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Bright, warm color saturates the canvas. The color scheme is clearly analogous, with almost all hues mixing a measure of warmed red to bind the canvas. High key values are also favored, with density providing accents instead of areas of shadow; midtones provide shadow. This method of figurative modelling is unique to Cassatt. Extremes in figurative size, intuitive color purity and a sort of “curved convergence” underscore this sense of pictorial depth. It is compromised somewhat by the composition-wide texturing, a necessary measure due to the harmonizing effect it has. 

The interplay between the “verticality” of the composition’s arrangement against the horizontally-rounded edges and directional forces establish the organic unity of this masterpiece. In my opinion, this dilutes the garishness of Cassatt’s choices in color. The recognizability of the subject’s face is bracketed by the sloping curves of the balcony. There is a great deal of contrasting and form-defining value to be found there, and in the surrounding area, which leads the eye to the figure’s hair and body. 

Cassatt seems to be “recording light” in the manner of Monet; it is clear that individual, tiny areas of color that vary in all dimensions of color are “stacked” together, both blending and remaining independent on the canvas, to express reflected light more than individual details. The feminine quality of this work is layered. That the subject is a woman has an obvious impact on this impression. The soft, graceful curves and fleshy, warm color scheme support this impression as well. 

One of the ways Cassatt holds interest is by installing confusion about what is being depicted. Is the observer looking into open space with a balcony in the far-background, or is the field of view insidiously compressed by a mirror? (Correction: The field of view is compressed by a mirror). While equivalencies are difficult to find in this work, most of the unbalanced proportions have a harmonizing effect which “rounds off” the potentially distracting effects of that lack of balance.

Paula Modersohn-Becker (1906). Self-Portrait with an Amber Necklace [oil on canvas]. Offentliche Kunstsammlung Basel, Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland.

I believe Modersohn-Becker applied her formal choices with minimal planning, but instead relied on her robust understanding of formal expression and visual design as a guide. In terms of energy, the composition reflects the condition of the subject: Warm and at peace. In these ways, there is a balanced blending of calculation and instinctual energy that supports this works organic, unified character. 
A split complementary color scheme is at work with dense greens and pale blues on the cool end set up against orangish-pinks on the warm end. The axis does not seem bent, connecting cyan-ish and fiery red. The value pattern supports the compositions confused sense of depth. Modeling is present in the development of the subjects body while background forms are more planar, but their stark contrast and the slight distortion of her features tends to flatten the composition. 
Modersohn-Becker gestures to her necklace, but her expression is directed at the observer and seems to reference the expressive qualities of the Virgin in Buoninsegna’s Virgin and Child in Majesty. This is probably to emphasize the loosely symmetrical quality of the composition more than to make a conceptual connection. In addition, the patterning of the leaf-forms effectively brackets her face, which contains the most pictorial detail. 
Conflicts are subtle and contextual in nature: A single, solid subject and tiny, dense forms that build a pattern; lightness and warmth and a backdrop of coolness. This work is and perfect example of conceptual and perceptual balance. Features are rendered with reduced but respectable recognizability, but not a single formal choice exists that doesn’t provide a clue about the subject’s character and emotional state. 

Henri Matisse (1905 to 06). Le Bonheur de Vivre [oil on canvs]. The Barnes Foundation, Merion, Pennsylvania.

Matisse has severely reduced all forms to world of color and shape symbolism that represents their emotional states, including that of the trees and nature. There is minimal reference to optical reality in both depth of field and the shape the figures assume. The ample energy is directed at communicating an impression of simplicity, warmth and comfort and less about creating motion or action. It also confuses what region of the canvas is to be the focal point, though the swirling nature of the composition provides effortless pathways for the eye to follow. Like his contemporary Gauguin, Matisse has created a conceptual rather than perceptual piece that demonstrates remarkable design. 
The formal framework is what presents the endorsement of natural simplicity and rejection of cold, mechanical advancement with such clarity. The abundance is swirling, almost hot color formats the surroundings. These colors, especially pink, develop the figures, formatting them with a sense of purity synonymous with birth, and integrating them with their surroundings. They are further harmonized with nature with the intermittent dense, green and harsh strokes that are used to represent the bodies of trees and fields of grass. 
Conflict is not the right term, but interest-generating tension is present because of the somewhat even distribution, both in area and population, of contrasts. Dense against light tones, defined against blended edges, cool greens and pinks against heated yellows and oranges and swirling, nearly cross-directional lines of force charge and glow on the canvas. This is contextualized by domination of lush, biomorphic forms and prismatic, aberration-free color. 
To me, given the dichotomous formal choices of edge and color, together with “absolutist” choices in shape and chroma, Matisse’s use of value is what qualifies this as a work of design. Careful study of it reveals the nature of blended and incised edges and the interlocking manner of forms, but moreover it emphasizes this composition’s pictorial diffusion and balance. The color scheme is quite interesting too. While purity and warmth dominate, so too do colors analogous with yellow set in a complementary strategy against purple. In this way, a sort of “analogous complementary” scheme is developed. Le Bonheur de Vivre masterfully achieves its goal of impressing a feeling of connection to nature and warmth within the casual observer. 

Gustav Klimt (1907 to 08). The Kiss [oil on canvas]. Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna.

The forms of the two figures are reduced to planar shapes with smaller, more elemental shapes communicating their emotional states. In this way, this is a conceptual work intended to impact the observer. Objective abstraction applies because the changes in value and texture build an arguable fore- to background relationship, though the background has been severely reduced. Energy is closed and contained within the composition. That of the male figure is discordant when the condition of the female figure is considered, which contradicts what would otherwise be a warm composition.

Hue, like objective form, has been reduced to subjectivity and near non-existence. Diluted color dominates the composition, leaving contrasts in value and shape to generate this work’s formal interest. The value pattern is foundational to the pictorial conflict generated between organic, amorphous forms and rigid, solid forms. Value contrast is significantly reduced in the outer portions of the canvas. The static peace this formatting choice creates is broken up by jarring textural and patterning differences in the field.

Klimt has quite ingeniously created a sense of deep pictorial space using essentially flat forms. This is largely due to extreme differences in field/ground detail and value. Focus is based on recognizability and aided by the before-mentioned contrasts in form definition and value. The square shape of the canvas references this work’s reliance on equivalencies to build tension and interest (eg, dichotomous form tone and definition, value range, and positive/negative space).

I believe the rigid, absolutist formatting of the masculine forms is a commentary on male stubbornness and tendency to oversimplify. A man can only feel two emotions: Anger or something other than anger. The male forms are harsh and incapable of possessing any sort of blended or simultaneous state. On the other hand, the feminine forms are capable of being complicated by more than one condition, are solid yet yielding, and are much more moderated in the individual formal conditions they carry (color, value, size). In the end, the effectiveness of this masterpiece is shown in the path it takes the observer on. Initially warm and loving, these impressions slowly blend into disquiet as the canvas is read and formal choices are analyzed.