Fencing at Munich Olympics 1972

LeRoy Neiman made "Fencing at Munich Olympics" with gestural strokes, and a palette of lilacs and blues that evoke the heat of the moment and the cool detachment of the athletes. Looking at this painting, I can imagine Neiman diving right into the thick of it all, trying to capture the intensity and dynamism of the match. It's all about speed and precision, with the fencers lunging and parrying as these thin white lines emphasize the movements back and forth. I wonder if Neiman felt like he was in the ring himself, trying to capture that fleeting moment of victory? The paint is applied pretty thinly, which gives it this sense of lightness and fluidity. Neiman uses repeated figures to create a visual sense of the speed that is so key to the sport. It reminds me of the Futurist painter, Boccioni, and his obsession with capturing movement on canvas. This painting is part of a much larger conversation across art history of how we translate movement into two dimensions.