The Meeting 1916

Curator: The first impression I get from Johannes Itten’s "The Meeting", made in 1916, is one of organized chaos, like looking at an explosion that’s been meticulously planned. What do you see? Editor: An internal struggle made visible. The color wheel clashes violently with the other blocks, it doesn't look like any agreement could ever be reached here. But I understand your assessment; there's a clear structure, however tense. Curator: The spiral seems almost primordial, an echo of shells and sunflowers, universal structures. But those hard, geometric blocks surrounding it are something else altogether, products of industrialization and the grid-like structures imposed on our lives. Editor: It's fascinating that you link geometric abstraction with industrial society. Certainly, it reflects a shift in cultural values toward mechanization, which some saw as liberation and others as a kind of cultural annihilation. Here the vortex strains to breathe under heavy architectural structures. Curator: And consider Itten's own story: He went from the rigid doctrines of the Bauhaus to establishing his own school of art, almost a return to the organic and individual expression. This struggle we are seeing must have been also present in his career path. Editor: Do you think the painting critiques the idealization of rational forms? Bauhaus aimed to unite art and technology, didn't it? Could Itten be questioning the very foundations of that movement even while a part of it? Curator: It's not beyond the realm of possibility. Think of the psychological weight of certain shapes and colors, and how Itten taught about this. To break them apart like this suggests the possibility that reason and the emotional interior are in constant, unavoidable conflict. Editor: Or, rather, in meeting. The title isn't "The Conflict", it is "The Meeting". Perhaps the painting suggests these forces can find ways of seeing each other despite tension? The title shifts the power dynamic in our interpretations! Curator: That's very true. Well, regardless of whether they're colliding or coalescing, the geometric precision and the intuitive appeal of the color harmonies offer us a very charged composition. Editor: Ultimately, the power of this expressionistic composition resides in its ability to provoke questions. Thank you for opening up the depths in Itten's meeting.