Heroic movement 

Editor: Here we have Theo van Doesburg’s "Heroic Movement." It is a work of acrylic paint… well, at least described as such… and the abstract curvilinear shape reminds me of a violin. How do you interpret this work? Curator: "Heroic Movement" speaks to me of the dynamic tension between abstraction and representation. I would suggest, what happens if we read this work through the lens of De Stijl's utopian ideals, with the golden age aspirations and an emphasis on simplification and universality. How does the choice of geometric forms, even with the appearance of curvilinear shapes, serve a larger political project of social harmony? Editor: Political, really? It seems almost playful in its composition, especially with the colors of brick-red, light blue and yellow. Curator: Playfulness can be deceiving. What might van Doesburg be "heroizing?" Is it a specific cultural idea of progress and masculinity or the collective human potential emerging from the ashes of WWI and its aftermath? Also, what sociopolitical circumstances could produce a heroic image from abstraction, from basic shapes, especially following the recent horrors and traumas of industrialized warfare? Editor: So you're saying that it is about finding beauty and harmony after all the bad things that occurred in war? The use of abstraction as a language of hope? Curator: Precisely. And further, who benefits from that kind of utopian vision, who might be excluded or silenced? Consider this work alongside manifestos of the time, looking into who and what shapes the canon of this revolutionary movement and who dictates a need for heroism. Editor: I never thought about this painting as political! But now that you mention the period’s context of destruction and reconstruction, the quest for social harmony starts to make sense! Curator: Right. Approaching art history as an activist means engaging in continuous questioning and placing each work within multiple social fabrics and systems of power.