Corpus Christi Procession 1913

Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso created this painting, Corpus Christi Procession, with oil on canvas. Its vibrant colors and fractured forms immediately strike the eye. The composition teems with geometric shapes and figures, creating a dynamic and almost chaotic scene that is both festive and disorienting. Souza-Cardoso’s work engages with the Cubist deconstruction of form, but it also infuses it with a unique sense of rhythm and color. Here, the procession is broken down into its constituent parts, abstracted into planes and angles that challenge our conventional understanding of space and movement. Observe how the artist uses color to delineate different elements, yet also allows them to bleed into one another, creating a sense of fluidity. The painting destabilizes established meanings by refusing to offer a coherent, unified representation of the event. Instead, it provides a fragmented, multifaceted view that reflects the complexity and dynamism of modern life. It is through this formal approach that Souza-Cardoso invites us to question the nature of representation and perception.