Reds, Rome

The Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris in 1925 was a showcase for the new architecture and functional design promulgated by Le Corbusier. Amédée Ozenfant’s Reds, Rome was one of the paintings that adorned the Pavilion, along with works by Fernand Léger, Juan Gris, Jacques Lipchitz and Le Corbusier himself, illustrating the aesthetic ideology of Purism. In Reds, Rome, adhering to these principles, Ozenfant built his painting mechanistically, fully simplifying the composition and reducing its elements to geometric forms, arranged on the basis of parallel lines which lend rhythm and harmony to the composition. This simplification also applies to the chromatic palette, pared down to tones of red from which the work takes its title.

Raúl Martínez Arranz