Synthesis of Aerial Communications 1934

Benedetta Cappa’s painting, Synthesis of Aerial Communications, is made with oil on canvas, and creates a world of soft, geometric shapes. It's like looking at the landscape through a kaleidoscope. The colors here are muted, mostly blues and greens, and the paint looks thinly applied, almost like watercolor, which gives the piece an airy quality. The lines are soft, and the shapes blend into each other. It is hard to see exactly where one thing ends and another begins. Take, for example, the way the mountain range at the top seems to merge with the sky and clouds. It reminds me of the work of other early twentieth century artists, such as Sonia Delaunay, who were similarly trying to capture the feeling of modern life in abstract forms. Like their art, this work is less about a single meaning and more about a sense of movement, change and possibility.