Umberto BOCCIONI - Head + light + environment (1912)

 

Head + light + environment

1912
Oil painting on canvas (60x60 cm)
Paolo Baldacci Gallery, New York

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The surface of the painting is crossed by fragmented rotating shapes in which reds and blues are repeated insistently; between these lines and colors a head emerges. It seems to observe the world through a kaleidoscope.

Boccioni was one of the founders of the Italian Futurist movement in 1910 and one of the signatories of the Manifesto. Futurist artists rejected the past and turned to science and technology for inspiration; their studies centered on the concept of movement through space. The futurists believed that industrial development could have a positive influence on art and Umberto Boccioni urged his fellow artists to grasp modern life in all its dynamism, vitality and speed. The Futurists too want to present a whole complex of impressions and sensations simultaneously.

Boccioni, who also devoted himself to sculpture, took part as a volunteer in the First World War in 1915. he died from a tragic fall from a running horse, after returning unharmed from the battlefield.

Comparing artists: Balla, Carrà, Feininger, Klee, Léger