Have you ever wondered about the impact music has had on other forms of art? You may have felt the sensations yourself as the melody traveled through you, triggering a feeling you didn’t even know existed, inspiring you to create something that made you feel the same way. Various painters notably displayed this stimulation from the past and present, as they splattered canvases with their visual depiction of music. Ten such pieces have been discussed below to demonstrate the impact music had in the world of art.
1. Impression III: Concert by Wassily Kandinsky
After attending a concert held by the Austrian, Arnold Schönberg, in 1911, Kandinsky would create one of his most famous works, Impression III: Concert. The artist was particularly taken by the rapturous music he heard and found himself conveying his feelings on a canvas.
2. Polyphony by Paul Klee
Paul Klee was known for admiring compositions, who himself had been an excellent violinist since just eleven years of age. Polyphony was painted in 1932 and presented music as a multilayer, overlapping, and simultaneously occurring phenomenon.
3. Music by Henri Matisse
Matisse painted Music in 1910, which Sergei Shchukin commissioned. The French artist was inspired by Bach’s music which directly inspired this artwork.
4. Victory Boogie-Woogie by Piet Mondrian
Mondrian appreciated Jazz music and was inspired by it a lot. This admiration only increased when he traveled to New York, where he found himself particularly taken by boogie-woogie. So much so that his painting Victory Boogie-Woogie, although unfinished, conveyed the rhythm and the joy of the music he held in such high esteem.
5. Music, Pink, and Blue No. 2 by Georgia O’Keefe
Georgia had always been inspired by how paintings could somehow emulate the way music made her feel. She was utterly enthralled by the idea that “music could be translated into something for the eye.” Music, Pink, and Blue No. 2 helps propose how music swells and moves in visual form.
6. Chagall: Color and Music by Marc Chagall
Chagall: Color and Music was an exhibition of various works by Chagall inspired by music. The influence of music was so great that the exhibition was solely focused on 340 pieces of art accompanied by music.
7. Listening to Schumann by Fernand Khnopff
Khnopff was a symbolist Belgian painter who painted Listening to Schumann in 1883. While nothing can be assumed about the type of music being played, the painting gives off a feeling similar to something many of us have encountered when listening to music.
8. Marguerite Gachet at the Piano by Van Gogh
While the fact is not well known, Van Gogh had always been inspired by music. Van Gogh took piano lessons as a child and expressed his passion for music in multiple letters. Marguerite Gachet at the Piano shows Van Gogh’s seems to reflect the artist’s passion for the instrument.
9. Großstadt by Otto Dix
In Großstadt, Otto Dix has recreated the inside of a dance bar. The middle panel of the painting focuses on a jazz band and how music became an outlet for expression after the end of World War I.
10. One: Number 31 by Jackson Pollock
Pollock’s painting, One: Number 31, is a spray-painted piece of art. The artwork resembles the same energy in jazz music, which Pollock was intricately acquainted with.
Conclusion
The artworks listed here are only a fraction of the pieces which were touched by music. Artists who truly understood music produced art pieces that were a mirror image of their strong emotional response. The choice of color and the artists’ brushstrokes were a direct result of the melody that played through them. Music inspired art is wondrous.
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