Future 1923

Giacomo Balla made this painting, called Future, with, what looks like, gouache paint, using bold geometric shapes. The brushwork is clear, and in some places thin, letting the white of the paper shine through to make the colours pop. Balla’s colour palette, dominated by shades of blue, evokes a sense of the cosmos. The cool tones and dynamic shapes suggest movement, speed, and the excitement of what's to come. Notice how the white areas, in contrast to the darker blacks and blues, create a sense of depth, as if these forms are bursting forth from the canvas. The lines move from the lower left corner and guide the eye into the centre of the painting, towards a light, bright unknown. Balla was interested in showing movement, and you can see this in his series of paintings, sculptures and other works exploring the flight of swallows, such as his 1913 painting, Swallows: Trajectories + Speeds of Flight. Balla isn’t trying to show us the future, but to suggest it.