Lis 1922

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy made this painting called 'Lis' using oil on canvas. It’s hard to put an exact date on this work, but we can place it in the early to mid-20th century. Moholy-Nagy worked at the Bauhaus, the famous German school of art and design that sought to unite art, technology, and industry. The Bauhaus was a progressive institution that believed in the social role of art and championed experimentation. The painting contains geometric shapes and intersecting lines typical of the Bauhaus style. It's worth considering how this reflects the socio-political mood in Europe at the time. Artists were searching for new visual languages to express the rapid changes brought about by industrialization and technology. They were consciously trying to break with the past and forge a new, modern aesthetic. Historians look at manifestos, exhibition catalogues, and institutional records. These resources provide invaluable insights into the ideas and social conditions that shaped artists like Moholy-Nagy. The meanings we assign to works of art are always shaped by the social and institutional contexts in which they're made and viewed.