Disks of Newton

Center Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris (France).

Oil on canvas.

The title of the work is a reference to the theory of colour, developed by Isaac Newton in the 17th century. Kupka represents the sun in the form of an intense red circle breaking up into its parts. As you move away, the colours become colder in tone and eventually turn black, that is, the colour becomes absent. Since Kupka was interested in cosmology and astronomy, the two spheres in the foreground probably represent planets, and concentric circles indicate the paths of their orbits. The work is known under the second title, “The Study of the Fugue in Two Colours”. Mention of the musical compositional technique gives the work additional meaning. Kupka believed that painting and music are closely related to each other and that sound can be embodied in colour and form. The artist stated that he “can reproduce the fugue in colour”.