The Bicycle Race 1912

Curator: Let’s take a moment with Lyonel Feininger's 1912 painting, "The Bicycle Race," currently housed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The work employs both cubist and expressionist styles. Editor: Wow, it's like a flurry of shattered glass and adrenaline! The colors are muted, almost antique-feeling, but the composition has this incredible sense of speed. It's disorienting, in a good way. Curator: Precisely. Feininger was fascinated by depicting movement and speed, very much in keeping with the futurist manifestos of the era. Here, we see the bicycle race distilled into angular forms. If you look closely, the cyclists almost merge into one single dynamic shape. It echoes analyses by Bergson that conceived of duration as an accumulation of states rather than a series of discrete instants. Editor: That explains why I can almost hear the whir of the wheels and the panting of the riders. But those angles—they also feel…brittle, don't they? Like the whole thing could collapse at any moment. There’s a palpable tension here. I'm getting a sense of fleeting beauty in speed, of precarity. Curator: And this precarity isn't accidental, perhaps echoing the social and political unease that was percolating in Europe during that period. His influences stemmed not only from cubism but art nouveau as well. You may note its subtle curves amidst the fractured geometries. Editor: It’s like catching a dream—fuzzy at the edges, vibrant in the core. I appreciate that he’s capturing the feeling of a bicycle race and the essence, instead of a realistic rendering of what it looks like. He’s tapping into something universal about speed and competition and effort. Curator: By breaking down forms, space, and light, Feininger prompts us to consider not just what we see, but how we perceive the world around us in flux, inviting viewers to dissect our experiences into component parts. Editor: It feels apt. Feininger asks us to question, as viewers, what is stasis, and what is simply motion blurred? Curator: Absolutely. So next time you feel stuck or static, remember Feininger's bicycle race, it's a reminder of movement that breaks convention and celebrates progress. Editor: Or if you're me, just try to avoid thinking about collapsing! Seriously though, this piece has really ignited my thinking about art. Thanks for that.