
Theo van Doesburg
Counter-Composition XIII
1925–26
On view
Theo van Doesburg
1919
This monochromatic abstraction mimics the syncopated rhythms of rag-time and illustrates a couple performing the still-popular American dance: the man is on the right, his foot firmly planted at the bottom of the composition, his left arm raised at shoulder level. The woman, slightly shorter, performs a rag-time kick (the two vertical parallel lines in the lower left quadrant are her foot—this is a back kick from the knee). Her waist is located in the shaded oval-in-a-rectangle half way up the left side of the composition. We know all this thanks to a realistic preliminary sketch.
Not on View
Artist | Theo van Doesburg |
Original Title | Composition in Gray (Rag time) |
Date | 1919 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 96.8 x 59.3 cm |
Credit line | Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York) |
Accession | 76.2553 PG 40 |
Collection | Peggy Guggenheim Collection |
Type | Painting |
Copy caption
Not on View
Theo van Doesburg
1925–26
On view
Pegeen Vail
1945
On view
Edmondo Bacci
1961
Not on View
Tony Cragg
1981
On view