Abstract Speed + Sound
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Abstract Speed + Sound | |
|---|---|
| Velocità astratta + rumore[1] (Italian) | |
 | |
| Artist | Giacomo Balla |
| Year | 1913–14 |
| Type | oil paint on millboard |
| Subject | abstract |
| Dimensions | 54.5 cm × 76.5 cm (21.5 in × 30.1 in)[1] |
| Location | Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice[2] |
| Accession | 76.2553.31 |
Abstract Speed + Sound (Italian: Velocità astratta + rumore) is a painting by Italian Futurist painter Giacomo Balla, one of several studies of motion created by the artist in 1913–14.
The painting evokes the sensation of the passing of an automobile, with crisscrossing lines representing sound.[1][3] It may be the second in a triptych narrating the passage of a racing car through a landscape, beginning with Abstract Speed (Velocità + paesaggio) (1913) and ending with Abstract Speed – The Car Has Passed (1913). The three paintings share indications of a single landscape, and each painting is continued onto its frame.[1]
Inspiration
Balla chose the automobile as a symbol of speed, reflecting the statement of Futurist founder Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's 1909 first manifesto: "The world's splendor has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed... A roaring automobile...that seems to run on shrapnel, is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace."