An Epic Song

3/6/13: An Epic Song

Ad Parnassum, Paul Klee

                This work, while not being the most aesthetically pleasing for me, was definitely the most visually impressive I’ve seen this year.  It employs use of pointillism, or painting pure dots of color to compose a piece.  Much akin to stippling in other media, the smaller dots are combined together to make something grander and interconnected.  Uniquely, though, Klee has added synesthaesia to his work, intertwining both sound and color.  Each block of color represents a different sound, with all of the sounds combining together to create a sort of symphony of the visual and auditory.  This highlights the synesthetic approach, where the artist views painting as a form of music.  The sun in the background highlights one of the important features of the work; namely, that the sun is representative of Apollo, the god of sun and music.  That small piece gives an entirely new view to the work, as now we see that the work is Apollo conversing and creating music with the muses, each represented by the blocks of color.  The color transforms from sound to an actual voice as each muse exists in harmony with the next, all singing to Apollo. They all sing above an arch that is interpreted to be a doorway to primordial truth, perhaps in color as music.

The Greek Muses:

http://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/nine-muses-in-greek-mythology/

How to draw using pointillism:

http://www.artinstructionblog.com/pencil-shading-technique-how-to-shade-a-drawing-using-pointillism