Giacomo Balla

As one of the principal members of the Futurist group, which was at the forefront of the early 20^th century avant-garde in Italy, Balla’s artistic vision was shaped by the movement’s fascination with the pace of modern life, changed by the advent of machines, locomotion and electricity. The study of speed and movement remained a pivotal subject throughout Balla’s career: while in his Futurist production he approached it as a physical and optical phenomenon, between 1912 and 1915 his research on movement, light and speed entered a new phase. Moving increasingly towards abstraction, and partly inspired by contemporary scientific theories, Balla ultimately arrived at his concepts of ‘lines of speed’ and ‘lines of force’. In Linee forza di mare of 1926 Balla uses linear rhythms and overlapping geometrical forms to create his trademark ‘lines of force’, evoking the movement of waves and sailboats on a two-dimensional surface.

Based on colour theories and studies of motion, Balla’s abstraction, however, also has a strong decorative quality. Whilst carefully studied and executed with great precision, his lines of speed are at the same time imbued with a poetic character reminiscent of the flowing lines of Art Nouveau. Balla himself was keen to emphasise the carefree, decorative nature of his work that would have a wide appeal. He commented in a 1920 interview to Enrico Santamaria: ‘What has futurist painting been from its beginning up until today if not a research of abstract chromatic decorativism?’ (quoted in G. Lista, op. cit., p. 89).

Fig. 1, View of the exhibition of Balla's work at Galleria del Dipinto, Rome in 1930, showing the present painting in the centre