Christ | part 4

 The first half of the 20th century: the color of the French savages

 The beginning of the 20th century is a time of great discoveries. Artists suddenly turn their attention to colonial art, reinterpret children's drawing, and actively experiment with color and shape.

 The Impressionists spoke of separate brushstroke and painting in pure color. Now artists of the next generation are pushing these same attitudes to the limit. The master conveys a shade with a blue tint with pure turquoise, and a slight blush on the girl's cheeks with a crimson spot.

 A whole movement of painters appeared, interested only in coloristic tasks. For their love of bright colors they were called Fauves (from the French fauves - "savages").

 Henri Matisse, the main ideologist of Fauvism, believed that the main thing in a painting is the harmony of color. He built all his compositions on the ratio of contrasting colors, which gave a major tone to his static subjects.

 He originally painted the painting The Red Room in blue, but decided to remake it almost entirely, considering that the work does not look decorative enough (in other words, there is no feeling that it is a tapestry or carpet). But Matisse considered the "red" version much more beautiful.

 Henri Matisse The Red Room (1908). A source

 Red absorbs three-dimensional space, and color becomes the main means of expression. Red is not only bright, but also carries a powerful emotional charge.

 Later, Matisse would use this technique in almost every work, believing that art should first of all bring joy to a person.

 Red was also used in protest against old ideas about the world and art.

 The avant-garde artist Ilya Mashkov said that red was considered vulgar for a long time, but that is why, in spite of established traditions, he painted almost all of his paintings with bright cinnabar.

 Ilya Mashkov "Portrait of an Unknown Man with a Flower in His Buttonhole" (1910). A source

 Mid XX century: red - open wound

 After World War II, the mood in society changed dramatically: few of the artists turned to positive subjects. What happened in art is best described by the phrase of the writer Jean Genet: "The source of beauty is nothing more than a hidden spiritual wound."

 Loss, tragedy of existence, violence - these are the themes that the artist Francis Bacon raised in his works. He saw the task of painting in "recreating the cruelty" of reality itself. The heroes of his paintings are grotesque creatures, they either hiss or scream in pain, losing their human appearance, they embody the very flesh, an open wound.

 Francis Bacon Three Studies for the Crucifixion (1962). A source

 To create such a gloomy atmosphere, the artist actively used different shades of red. This color perfectly conveys the emotional message of the picture.

 XXI century: red as a political statement

 In the modern world, red can be anything: a warning sign, and punishment, and pleasure, and a celebration.

 Michel Pasturo in his book Red. The history of color ”writes that the times of this color have passed, and its place is now taken by blue and green. However, in art, red is still very symbolic.

 A big fan of red, artist Anish Kapoor is interested in the emotional impact of the objects he creates. His works are striking in their monumental scale - they look more like architectural projects than sculptural ones. They are almost impossible to grasp at one glance, they suppress the viewer and, of course, are associated with the image of power.

 Anish Kapoor "My Scarlet Homeland" (2003). A source

 His work "My Scarlet Homeland" resembles an execution site, "Shooting in a Corner" looks like pieces of meat thrown into the white walls of a museum, and "Dismemberment" invites the viewer to look inside the body. Red is again interpreted as flesh and blood, physical torment and violence, only now the artist is talking not about one person, but about a whole generation of oppressed people.

 Anish Kapoor "Shooting in the Corner". A source

 Kapoor also has political work. In 2011, he created a grandiose installation in red "Leviathan" and dedicated it to the arrested Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, and then urged all museums in the world to close for one day in protest.

 Anish Kapoor "Leviathan" (2011). A source

 For Kapoor, red is the color of powerful statements, a kind of visual manifesto, thanks to which his objects are remembered even by those who are far from contemporary art.