Constructive with compass

Canvas, oil.

Center Pompidou, Paris (France).

The composition is organized in accordance with the basics of Neoplasticism – the entire pictorial surface is structured by an orthogonal grid. Unlike works of Piet Mondrian, this drawing of Torres demonstrates the imperfection of hand-drawn lines, and the size of individual squares is dictated by the scale of the inscribed signs and inscriptions. Colours are not pure, although they are neoplastic (red, yellow, white and black). The main symbol, the compass indicated in the name of the picture, points to the south, which is important for the author. The artist believed that the future of the world of fine art is connected with the Latin American southern authentic traditions. The book Our Navigator by Torres, published in Paris in 1932, provides the correct key for understanding the ideas of many of his paintings.