Vir heroicus sublimis

The Museum of Modern Art, New York (the USA).

Canvas, oil.

This was Newman’s largest painting at the time of its completion – more than two meters on the horizontal side of the canvas. Later, the artist created even more extensive works. The author wanted viewers to see this and other large paintings at close range so that the background colours surround them. In this picture, which is more complex than it seems at first glance, Newman’s “lightning” of different densities vibrate, creating a perfect square in the center and asymmetric spaces around the perimeter. According to the description of conceptual artist Mel Bochner, the scale and colour of this work created a new kind of contact between art and man, “the viewer standing next to me is covered in red”. The colour emanating from the painting fills the space between people and the picture. “A painting and an object reflected on the viewer were a completely new category of experience”, Bochner recalled.