Souls Aflame: The Burning of the Houses of Parliament

J.M.W. Turner
The Burning of the Houses of Parliament, J.M.W. Turner, 1935
Souls Aflame : Fire in Art

Curated By LIBBY ROHR

The Burning of the Houses of Parliament has been my favorite painting since I first saw it earlier in the year. There’s something about the violent streaks of fire and the shadows of the silhouettes against the inferno that keeps me from pulling away. The gold in this painting captivates me, as if the flame itself were a living expression of the precious metal. Even in the obvious tragedy of this scene, there’s something wild and freeing in how Turner portrays it, taking over the canvas and ripping across the sky and the water, untouchable. The shadow of the long gone Houses of Parliament looks so small in comparison with the sheer power of the flame. It imposes a sense of how small society is in comparison with the natural world. This force that we often feel has so much influence over our lives could be burned away in an instant.

Turner, uncontested as the most exciting British painter, was famous for his intense landscapes such as this one. His works were created in as violent a style as they come across, with thick swashes of paint and scraping edges. Forged literally in his blood, sweat, and tears, there is no painting that could convey the passion of an inferno better than a Turner, and therefore no better way to end this collection.  Split in half by the horizon, I love the way the fire reflects in the water. Obsessed with  natural disasters, this work is incredibly characteristic of Turner's powerful style. The fire consumes the whole painting, even leaving the darkness of smoke to hover around the edges of this work. One of Turner's greatest gifts is to turn this chaos into stunning beauty. Like the El Greco work I began with, the flame glows and shimmers throughout the work, unconfined and free. It touches the soul the way art is made to.

I don’t look at this work and feel helpless, I feel powerful. Yes, the figures and buildings are small and silhouetted, and I’m sure I’m supposed to relate to them, but I don’t. Looking at the violent brush strokes, I feel pulled to be part of the fire. I feel a rush of rebellion inside myself and the part of me that’s felt the desire to fight back against the status quo since I was in grade school. When I stare at this painting, I take it as a call to change the world because through that fire - be it literal or a metaphor for passion - can tear down in an instant. In an instant, nothing is the same.
  • 7:00 AM

Souls Aflame: The Battle of Cesme at Night

Ivan Aivazovsky
The Battle of Cesme at Night, Ivan Aivazovsky, 1848
Souls Aflame : Fire in Art
Curated By LIBBY ROHR

Here it is, the token war painting in the collection of works about fire. It's got it all. A massive naval battle, exploding ships, gratuitous billowing smoke, the cover of nightfall, a full moon, and yet there is nothing ordinary or average about this work. Ivan Aivazovsky was born in Crimea, and raised up with ample education for a working class boy. From his youth, he showed promise in the field of art and eventually grew famous for his seascapes, such as this one. He had a particular talent when it came to recreating the shimmering of light on water, so expertly exemplified in this work. At the end of his life, much of his work trended towards war scenes. It's the strength of nature and humanity combined at their most intense and most chaotic states. Compared to the peaceful glow of the Yves Klein painting, the last installment of this collection, Aivazovsky's work is everything it wasn't. It's the inferno we all know and in some ways adore. As human beings, a part of us is attracted to the power, the chaos, and the intensity present.

The annihilation shrouds the full moon, covering it from view, and trashes the otherwise pristine nature of the ocean. A mountain landscape is nearly invisible in the background. The clouds encircle the scene of war, drawing the gaze to the battle itself, and creating an arc-like composition. The intensity of this work showcases the emotion of the romantic movement he was a part of, and the perfect movement to include in a collection of works in relation to fire. At the time when Aivazovsky painted this, a series of revolutions were breaking out in Russia, which might have inspired his series of warfare themed paintings, even thought the Battle of Cesme nearly a century before.

Some inferno paintings showcase the power of nature, others exemplify humanity's capacity for devastation. As warfare has modernized, we as a species have tried to harness the power of fire and explosions. We see this in The Battle of Cesme at Night, the pinnacle of destruction lighting the night up in this electrifying red-orange. With debris, refugees, and smoke, carpeting the natural beauty of the landscape, it shows the pain of war and human recklessness.
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Souls Aflame: Untitled Color Fire Painting

Libby Rohr
Untitled Color Fire Painting, Yves Klein, 1962
Souls Aflame : Fire in Art
Curated By LIBBY ROHR

Yves Klein was by far the coolest, craziest, bluest post-World-War-II Frenchman ever to hit the art scene. Most famous for his monochromatic paintings in his own trademarked cerulean color. This particular painting looks like nothing else I've ever seen of his. It lacks the same crisp quality and shocking color that I associate with his work, and instead invokes a calming feeling. Painted just months before his death, Klein's style changed as he shifted towards an obsession with the natural and fire in particular rather than his usual use of the human body. Even when taking into account of this change in style, no other work looks remotely like this in composition and color. Like so many of the other works with fire, it circles around the center. Organized in a way, but soft at the edges and incredibly freeing to look at. When I look at this mark of flame, it reminds me of the soft, flowery wings of a moth fluttering by a streetlamp at night. The purity in the white color is beautiful and ethereal to a certain extent. Unlike so many of Klein's other works, I would call this painting a true manifestation of peace in art. 

So, you may be asking, what does this blob of serenity have to do with fire other than the fact that it's slightly shaped like candle flame? 

It's in the amazing creation of this work. At this point in his life, in order to experiment with a new medium, he got access to work in a fire safety testing facility, and for the last two to three years of his life, most of his works were created, at least in part, through the use of actual fire to scorch his canvasses. Even in the white color, the burn adds a glowing color and texture to the work that attracts me so much to this particular work. The painting itself is soft and streaked and breathing like the best of the fire paintings I've chosen. The concentric oval pattern pulls your eyes to the scorched center and back out again, pulsing like real flame. What sets this work apart from the others is that so many infernos are cloaked in chaos and destruction, where this shows fire as a creating, sheltering force. Unlike so many artists, it shows the comforting, purifying, almost holy, side of fire, connecting the art to the soul within.
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Souls Aflame: Fire Evening

Fire Evening
Fire Evening, Paul Klee, 1929
Souls Aflame : Fire in Art
Curated By LIBBY ROHR

Seeing this rainbow under the tag of fire, I was immediately drawn to the vibrant blocks of color, surprisingly organized in composure from the volley of chaos usually present in paintings of this category. Looking at abstract works, I’m always reminded and grateful for art history class, knowing full well that I would have hated this painting a year ago, unable to see the form underneath the literal. Now, I understand. It speaks to me differently. It took a year of work for me to be able to look at this collage of shapes and see the image of the fire underneath. 

Paul Klee took a trip to Egypt, the year before this was painted. The landscape is said to have inspired several other paintings in this stratified style. The title helps the audience to un-riddle the image. Through it's undeniably abstract, Klee still manages to evoke a reality. The composition of this work spirals around the one block of red in the center. It's a bit heavier on the left side where there's more change in color. The particular stair step pattern is almost Fibonacci-esque in pattern, in a way that's calming to me, like sitting around a bonfire on a warm summer evening, in the desert. The particular shades of purple and green are pleasant and gentle, but the intensity of the flame comes in the contrast. At first glance, the lines appear sharp and defined, but upon further examination I see they're soft and although separate, like fire these segments are also one.

Now, I look at this work and I see the rising and flickering of the flame and the vibrant blue that Paul Klee uses from his many horse paintings, and I see beauty in the rectangles. I understand the fire consuming strips of greenery and feel the heat from the embers and watch as the purple ashes blow out and dissipate against the fading dark blue of the sky. It’s breathing. None of the shapes are perfect, and the colors dip and fade within their own blocks, as a real flame would, but it remains independent and strong. Vibrant and calm, warm against cool, but all united, like nature itself, in the cycle of creation and destruction.
  • 7:00 AM

Souls Aflame: Boy Blowing On an Ember to Light a Candle

Boy Blowing On an Ember to Light a Candle
Boy Blowing On an Ember to Light a Candle, El Greco, 1570
Souls Aflame : Fire in Art
Curated By LIBBY ROHR

"The works must be conceived with fire in the soul but executed with clinical coolness."
-Joan Miro

As a species, we’ve long argued that fire and art are two primary factors that separate us from beasts. Two qualities all our own, one primal in nature, the other a part of high society. Both utterly fascinating and both decidedly markers of what we would call civilization. For my final project, I’ve decided to unite them in this collection titled Souls Aflame. The above quote by Miro captures what I hope to show through these works, especially in relation to how master artists tackle the depiction of the wild power of flame in a way that captures its essence within the capabilities of the human hand. By making fire a central subject, naturally we’ll come face to face with the most passionate of art in a variety of different ways. 

I’ve chosen to begin this grouping with an El Greco painting. What better place to start than with a picture of a young man, fanning a small flame? The fact that it comes from such an influential artist is just a bonus. Nearly 30 years after this was created, El Greco repainted this scene, adding a dimly-lit, smirking figure on one side and a chained monkey, a symbol of vice, on the other. This later version was said to be a moralizing painting warning against the dangers of lust, symbolized by the fanning of the flame. However, this original looks far more innocent in nature. Unlike the other, the boy's face is more round and childish, and his expression is that of simplicity and naïvité. In the classic El Greco style, this painting emits a mystic element that only intensifies with focus. Because of the angle of the boy's face, we don't see the big eyes and thin bone structure that we associate with his figures, but we see his style in the fabric and brush strokes in this work.

The use of chiaroscuro lighting enhances the mystery and intensity of focus for this work, as well. The color in this painting is a reflection of the flame. All other hues are tinted with the gold of the growing light so the entire painting takes on the sparkling glow. Yes, it’s realistic of candle light, but the metaphorical resonance of this detail is too significant to be missed. Ideological and cultural revolutions often come from this metaphorical place of the fanning flame. The symbolism of youth fuels the representation of ambition until it’s big enough to light the candle and exist on its own. Drawing from the embers of the generation before them, they make it their own and expand on their own inferno from the dying knowledge of the past. Simply in metaphor, this painting is incredibly rich. It's a revolution of youth in itself. Like any good revolution, it's incredibly captivating and conveys the passion and optimism of fire, lighting the way for other works to follow.
  • 7:00 AM