Orphic cubism

What is orphic cubism?

Orphic cubism is the colourful, musically inclined branch of cubism, in which the breaking down of form recedes and radiant colour and rhythm have the main say. Instead of the grey-brown cubes of classical cubism we see compositions of colour fields closer to music than to the description of an object. Can you feel a melody almost sounding from such a painting?

When and how did it come about?

The term was introduced by the poet Guillaume Apollinaire around 1912, at the time of the exhibition where this colourful line of cubism clearly emerged. He borrowed the name from the mythical singer Orpheus to underline the musical, lyrical nature of this painting. So a term was born for a movement that opened the cubist language to colour and rhythm.

Who are its main figures?

Orphic cubism is associated above all with the name of František Kupka, whose work around 1912 embodies this colourful, musically inclined path. Kupka is among the artists who dared to abandon the depiction of things and rely on the pure force of colour and form. That is precisely why his work became one of the pillars of this term.

What was its significance and how is it seen?

Orphic cubism matters above all as a herald of pure abstraction. It is the moment when a painting stops needing a depicted object and becomes sufficient in itself. In Kupka's work a painting is born that imitates nothing and simply sounds with colour and rhythm. For the history of art it is one of the key steps towards modern, non-representational painting.

— Anna Pulkertová, founder of Art Part Club