Birth

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (the USA).

Canvas, oil.

In this work, Kenneth Noland depicted three concentric circles in warm colours: red, yellow and dark pink. When viewing a painting, the viewer might feel like some of these circles go deep into the picture, while others protrude above the surface. But this is just an optical illusion. The circles are flat, and they get volume only because of their colour and location relative to each other on the surface of the canvas. The title of the work hints at the universal symbolism of the circle, which personifies infinity, the constant cycle of birth and death of everything in this world.