Originally Published in Print, April 2022.

 

The English art critic Walter Pater once said, “all art constantly aspires to the condition of music”. Pater believed that music, unlike all other art forms, is superior in that there is no distinction between subject and form. He said that the condition of music is its ability to communicate a message in a truly abstract way, since its form is not representational or referential as other art forms are but is in fact impossible to distinguish from its subject matter.

 

Over the 20th century, this difference in how music and art are created and perceived grew more noticeable. Music became more accessible and easier to engage with than ever before, while the world of visual art became increasingly elitist and remote. 

 

One relatively well-known way by which music and art converge is the perceptual phenomenon synesthesia, a sort of ‘crossing of the senses’ where information meant only to be perceived by one of the senses is instead perceived by two or sometimes even more. One way in which synesthesia can manifest is the ability to ‘hear’ colour, or see colour in one’s mind upon listening to music. One of the most well-known synesthetes in popular culture was the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky. Often referred to as the ‘father of abstraction’, Kandinsky believed that abstract art could depict the unconscious and that music was the most abstract art form of all, meaning a piece of music can have a profound impact upon a person regardless of if they are aware of the piece’s subject matter, if there even is one. He once said that “music has been for some centuries the art which has devoted itself not to the reproduction of natural phenomena, but rather to the expression of the artist’s soul, in musical sound”. In short, Kandinsky believed that music had achieved a freedom of expression that visual art had not yet reached, and it was his goal to correct that.

 

Kandinsky’s painting ‘Impression III (Konzert)’ (1911) is a visual description of what he experienced when he attended a concert of Arnold Schoenberg’s, who was his friend and contemporary. The painting is abstract – there are no definite recognisable objects in the painting, only impressions of what might be. It is an attempt to create a full sensory experience using only the visual; to stir up an emotional response to the painting in those who viewed it even though they would not be able to make out any distinct objects in it, or to deduce the painting’s subject matter – to make them respond to the painting in the same way that they would to a piece of music, such as that of, say, Debussy. Kandinsky’s synesthesia informed many of the artistic choices made in creating this painting – for example, the bold swipe of brilliant yellow that curls around the sides and bottom of the painting is how Kandinsky saw the sound of the trumpets, while the oval shaped in the centre and toward the left of the piece could be interpreted as the audience, engulfed by the sound of the trumpet as Kandinsky may have felt.

 

Since Kandinsky, many more artists have produced works inspired by music, though they vary greatly in their inspirations. Most were not quite of the same opinion as Kandinsky in considering music a truer and more abstract expression of art and freedom, but rather wished to simply reflect the music that they enjoyed, or a facet of music they felt distinct to that art form, through their art. Georgia O’Keeffe believed in “the idea that music could be translated into something for the eye”, an idea which she made a reality in her 1921 piece “Blue and Green Music”. Jazz informed the work of the Cubist Stuart Davis and the Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock greatly, while the Pop artist Andy Warhol was impacted hugely by the music of the Velvet Underground, an impact he recompensed by becoming their manager in 1965. 

 

This exchange works the other way around too; there are a myriad of composers and musicians who have been influenced by visual art in their creative process. The American composer Morton Feldman greatly admired abstract art, and counted many visual artists including Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock among his friends. In 1972, Feldman produced an album entitled ‘Rothko Chapel’ following the artist’s death, taking its name from the octagonal chapel in Houston,Texas that houses 14 of Rothko’s paintings, and in which the album was premiered. Feldman attempted to reflect facets of Rothko’s painting style through his music – in describing one way in which he did this, he said “Rothko’s imagery goes right to the edge of his canvas, and I wanted the same effect with the music – that it should permeate the whole octagonal room and not be heard from a certain distance.”