Mercury Passing Before the Sun- Through a Telescope

'Mercury Passing Before the Sun- Through a Telescope'
1914 -- oil on canvas

Balla uses a set of primary and secondary colors combine with a set of bright complementary colors such as orange and blue. The tempera on paper gives the painting a beautiful texture with the different layers of paint. It has one on top of each other to create the different shapes, some geometric. The use of black and white colors for light and shadow work very well. The subject in this work of art doesn't seem like it could be easily identified. No one has ever really seen mercury pass before the sun through a telescope before. Balla could have portrayed mercury the way he had perceived it artistically.






Source used:
http://bittleston.com/artists/giacomo_balla/