This painting “Homage to the Square Yellow Echo” really caught my attention because of its simplicity “like saying: Yes, this is also good art”, but at the same time its capacity of bringing up messages both internal and external.
The Josef Albers’ paintings that are regarded «as one of the most iconic series of twentieth-century art»[1] impressed me by showing the importance and difference that colors can make, in a lot of cases the use of primary colors along with black or white. As I was contemplating that painting, I felt different emotions and feelings that little by little were making me enjoy for the first-time contemporary art.
One idea that this image brought to me was the beauty of order and cleanness that this painting has. When the title says ‘Homage to the Square’ I feel that the painting not only speaks about a shape, but a structure; a framework where everything has a place that works and is perfect, both for its own sake and in relation to other elements within the composition. Another idea is the clarity and brightness that it shows. Since its principal color is yellow it is like the painting is bringing light by its own from inside, as in the inscription says: “Like the different qualities of light emanating from the sun and the light bulb”. This gives a feeling of happiness and clarity while seeing everything full of joy and comfort.
Then while I continued gazing at it, I felt that it was forming a path, as if those were little doors that were opening leading me to the sun. One point to remark on here is the visual effect that it has using the linear perspective technique that gives the sensation of dimension, but it does it in a simple but still profound way. Continuing with the idea of linear perspective and changing my position I realized that something interesting of this painting is the fact that the squares are closer to the bottom than to the top of the image, this detail makes the “little doors” seem like they are close to each other, but if you change the perspective (like bringing the top to the bottom) it will look like the doors are a little bit further than before, and more interesting that if you bring one side to the bottom is going to bring the linear perspective but from a different angle. So, I realized that with something that seems simple we can learn a lot.
This could also help for the apostolate because in our life we will always find a path that leads us to the light, a light that is way clearer that everything that surrounds it, and it does not matter where to go from, because although the perspectives are different, all of them are leading us to the same point: God. We could say that our life is based on this on concept a pathway that leads us to the light that is God.
Bibliography.
- Jorge Aguilar-Cauz, The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume 1, 15th edition, Chicago, page 211.
- MILES, «20th Century Art in 20 Unforgettable Works: Josef Albers’ ‘Homage to the Square’», 2023, in https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/20th-century-art-in-20-unforgettable-works-josef-albers-homage-to-the-square
