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Theory of painting

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The idea of founding a theory of painting after the model of music theory was suggested by Goethe in 1807 and gained much regard among the avant-garde artists of the 1920s, the Weimar culture period, like Paul Klee.[1][2]

From Goethe to Klee

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Goethe famously said in 1807 that painting "lacks any established, accepted theory as exists in music".[2][3] Kandinsky in 1911 reprised Goethe, agreeing that painting needed a solid foundational theory, and such theory should be patterned after the model of music theory,[2] and adding that there is a deep relationship between all the arts, not only between music and painting.[4]

The comparison of painting with music gained much regard among the avant-garde artists of the 1920s, the Weimar culture period, like Paul Klee.[1]

Structural semantic rhetoric

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The Belgian semioticians known under the name Groupe μ, developed a method of painting research called structural semantic rhetoric; the aim of this method is to determine the stylistic and aesthetic features of any painting by means of the rhetorical operations of addition, omission, permutation and transposition.[5][6]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b Marcel Franciscono Paul Klee: His Work and Thought, part 6 'The Bauhaus and Düsseldorf', chap. 'Klee's theory courses', p. 246 and under 'notes to pages 245–54' p. 365
  2. ^ a b c Moshe Barasch (2000) Theories of art – from impressionism to Kandinsky, part IV 'Abstract art', chap. 'Color' pp. 332–3
  3. ^ Goethe 19 May 1807, conversation with Riemer
  4. ^ Kandinsky p. 27
  5. ^ Winfried Nöth (1995) Handbook of semiotics pp. 342, 459
  6. ^ Jean-Marie Klinkenberg et al. (Groupe μ) (1980) Plan d'une rhétorique de l'image, pp. 249–68

References

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  • Kandinsky [1911] Concerning the Spiritual in Art, chapter The language of form and colour pp. 27–45