Mary Pearce
Kingston University, UK

Animating Art History: Digital Ways of Studying Colour in Abstract Art

Keywords: colour, abstract art, digital analysis, multimedia.

Introduction

This paper focuses on the advantages of new media to introduce a method of presenting art historical educational material in a stimulating and accessible way.

Throughout the explanation I will draw specifically on examples from an interactive¹ CD-ROM entitled Colour and Communication in 20th-Century Abstract Art which was created as part of my PhD research, undertaken through Kingston University and supervised externally by Professor Martin Kemp. It is intended for educational use in museums, as an extension to digital archives, e-learning or as a tool for teachers in the classroom.

Before beginning the research I had been involved in both commercial and artistic projects in Britain and Brazil and, because of this, I drew on techniques for commercial CD-ROMs adapting them towards defending an art historical thesis.

The CD-ROM presentation is set in the period of twentieth-century Western art, starting with the influence of 19th-century colour theory on the early 20th-century European painters and demonstrating the manner in which the change in the role of colour progressed in parallel with the development of abstract art. As will be evident, I used a subject matter which suited the medium in order to experiment with the potential of multimedia for this purpose.

As the theme of this conference is about exploring practice in a network society, I would like to mention that since making the CD-ROM I have been given the opportunity to develop some of my ideas in e-learning situations especially at an institution called 'Escola do Futuro', the 'School of the Future',² based at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil. Here I have been creating small educational modules or 'learning objects' on colour and music under the umbrella title of 'A Magia da Cor' (The Enchantment of Colour) to be published in their virtual library. The virtual library itself is very active in promoting the Portuguese language. It makes available archive material such as literature, Brazilian music, free software and materials for teachers, to remote areas of the country and to Portuguese speakers worldwide.

In this paper, however, I would like to concentrate on the original form of my CD-ROM because it represents a complete statement and its architecture was thoroughly planned to hold together many interrelated facets, which, after all is one of the most well-known advantages of this medium.

Throughout the research several enquiries were made with regard to the suitability of new media for an art historical survey and I stress that one of the major preoccupations was always to experiment with this possibility to enhance the study of art history. The main aim of the paper is, therefore, to outline the rationale behind some of the design choices in the CD-ROM. This means not simply graphic design but includes the decision-making with regard to information architecture.

Suitability of new media to this subject matter

Synthesis of many themes presented in one didactic tool
The focus of the CD-ROM presentation is not only on a general survey of chromatic values within the composition of paintings, but on comparing the significance of colour in twentieth-century paintings from three distinct eras of Western Modernism, including examples of the work of Orphist, Bauhaus and Abstract Expressionist artists.

In addition to this, a central feature of research into the way that colour is understood within these movements relies on a synthesis of themes which associate colour with interpretations of music, calligraphy, visual poetry and issues of time and space, with reference to their individual roles and interrelationships within the compositions of the paintings. However, synthesis also has a particular significance for both the content and the use of multimedia as an innovative means of presenting these complex concepts and it is, furthermore, in keeping with the methodology of the painters described within the presentation, that multimedia is used to demonstrate the themes mentioned above. The reason for this is that various artists in the first two decades of the 20th century, including those affiliated to the Blue Rider movement, had set their aim to create a 'total' art (Gesamtkunstwerk) that brought together many creative disciplines and was not confined by the conventional boundaries of media.³ In general, these artists felt that the more senses that a work could appeal to, the better the chance of touching the imagination or 'inner spirituality' within the spectator.

The idea of 'synthesis', therefore, appears in various permutations throughout the eras discussed: for example, as 'simultaneity' within the work of the French artists, Robert and Sonia Delaunay; as a 'total art' in, for example, the 'Polyphonic' paintings of Paul Klee, and as 'absolute art' in the work of some of the American Abstract Expressionists, such as Barnett Newman or Mark Rothko.⁴ Given that all of these descriptions have relevance to the reading of colour within Western Modernist painting, it was felt to be important to give the user the opportunity to acquire an understanding of the visual grammar that was at play within the composition of the works. An introductory section was therefore included to define the general technical qualities of colour as part of a visual language.

In extending the phenomenon of synthesis within a 'total' art, by explaining it through the added dimensions of digital multimedia, I was firstly adding new possibilities to the idea of mixed media artistic productions, such as those favoured by the above mentioned artistic movements. Secondly, I was also using that very medium of digital multimedia, to address the limitations of a traditional linear art historical survey. The subject of colour with relation to the painting movements is, therefore, especially suitable for a multi-dimensional presentation of this sort.

Explaining visual phenomena through visual means – accessibility of the medium
Digital multimedia represent an accessible way to introduce some of the features inherent in abstract art, which are notoriously difficult for the average gallery visitor to understand. As mentioned, the reasoning behind the transition of colour from being a figurative surface feature to having meaning as an element of an abstract composition in its own right, is complex and grasping this reasoning depends, to a large extent, on understanding some of the fundamental concepts about both colour and abstract painting. However, the information on colour theories can be easily explained through graphic exercises which focus on visual perception. Throughout this research, therefore, there has been a pre-occupation with finding a means of interpreting complex ideas in a visual way, to make them more easily assimilated by a general public.

Consequently, much of the CD-ROM presents sections which enable the user to grasp the many interpretations of tone, tint and hue, by controlling on-screen events which physically reveal the differences between these elements of colour. These sections are the basic introduction or 'Primer', the section on 'Tint, Tone and Hue' and the 'Perspective of Colour'. The use of intensive verbal explanations was avoided within the screens themselves and instead animation and audio-visual means were utilised to convey the issues through the direct communication that colour can have on the senses.

In the section 'Tint, Tone and Hue', for example, the user can place the cursor over buttons of individual colours and a central area of graduated greys, ranging between black and white, will transform into gradations of the particular hue chosen by the user, so the distinction between tints and tones are easily recognised (Fig.1B).

Fig. 1. A.

Fig. 1. B.

Fig. 1. A. Sections open with an image of a completed painting where the technique is employed.
B. Introduction to Use of Tonal Gradations. Difference between tints and tones

Similarly, the section 'Perspective of Colour' demonstrates, through a sequence of screens, that colour does not need to be contained as a surface feature of three-dimensional objects in order to represent dimension on the picture plane. In a pop-up window, an animated sequence of transforming screens is available, which succinctly trace the development of Mondrian's compositions into abstraction, adding a wider significance to the role of abstract colour by emphasising the fact that the painters discussed in more detail in the presentation, were not in isolation in their interpretations of colour.

Thus, the possibility of using sequences of screens, analytical animations and illustrated graphical flow charts can be developed into a new kind of educational tool, which approaches the analysis of paintings through user participation, explaining visual phenomena through visual means.

Focus on the spectator/user. The 'reading' of the composition as a temporal process
Other sections focus on how the perception of these qualities of colour is important for the reading of the picture, whether this understanding be intuitive or intellectual. For example, the focus on the process of the painter revealed in 'Movement – Tracing the Artist' draws on examples of two paintings by Paul Klee entitled Fugue in Red and Growth of Nocturnal Plants (Wachstum der Nachtpflanzen, 1922) and is intended to demonstrate two main ideas. Firstly, the representation of time in the painting, where colour could be set up in rhythms which lead the attention of the spectator in a temporal flow from one area to another within the composition. Secondly, that the process through which the artist builds the picture is visible in the end result. Both of these concepts were relevant to the earlier work of Sonia and Robert Delaunay⁵ and are relevant again to the later work of the American painters, where the intention is to assist the user in the understanding the process of Action Painting, where the action, or gesture, of the painter is recorded on the canvas (as mentioned below in 'Development towards Web Publication'). Navigational links are therefore set up between these sections.

Therefore not only 'synthesis' has further significance within the work of the two eras but the user of the multimedia comes aware of the temporal rhythms within the seemingly static medium of painting. In this way, the participation of the spectator when viewing a painting, which was crucial to the conception of the various artists discussed within the CD-ROM, is developed within the interactive medium.

Organisation of material

In the previous section I have discussed how, through using multimedia, it was possible to create a structure that was tightly interrelated – that would represent the multiplicity of ideas set in balance. The information presented would neither be purely formal, in terms of demonstrating chromatic relationships in the paintings, nor would it be limited to the representation of any one particular colour theory, but it would be a combination of formal, historical and theoretical data that would introduce the user to methods of perceiving paintings with a capacity for wider reference. Organising all this material within one study required a plan of various dimensions (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. A.

Fig. 2. B.

Fig. 2. Main menu. A. Highlighting one section.
B. Highlighting the centre: three historical eras in France, Germany and America.

The Main Menu – overall architecture
The most important manifestation of the architecture is in the main menu. It appears after an introduction to the period of Western art at the beginning of the century, where to mark the fact that this was a time when both music and the visual arts were going through changes in structure, the music of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, 1913⁶ can be heard as the text appears on the screen.

The main menu is based on a flow chart (available in other areas of the CD-ROM) which has been adapted to a graphical navigational field. The overall choice of graphic design for the navigational interface, where aspects of the colour wheel were chosen to represent the separate sections, was inspired by David Siegel's concept in his book Creating Killer Websites which suggests the use of an 'umbrella' metaphor for the purposes of navigating websites.⁷

The information is divided into three main categories, Language of Colour, Historical Background and Theoretical Background, and although these are interrelated, distinction is already established between ways of approaching the paintings themselves.

Each of the three main categories is divided into many other subsections, most of which open with a painting as a starting point, to be analysed with relation to the individual topic in discussion. For example, the section describing tones and tints, mentioned earlier, opens with a painting by Paul Klee called Afflicted Place (Getroffener Ort, 1922) which manifests the technique of gradations of one colour (Fig. 1A).

Thus within the subsections of 'Language', the users gain insight into the significance of specific qualities of colour within a composition. However, since this use inevitably bears relation to wider historical and theoretical issues, other sections are devoted to broadening the explanation of the chosen painting.

In contrast, the three subsections of 'Historical Background' entitled 'Flow of Ideas', where the main argument of the thesis is housed, open with an introductory animation which pinpoints the main criteria typifying the artistic production of the era.

The Subsections

Learning methods – A change in the didactic process
Each of the subsections was intended to be a self-contained unit, but, though it is possible to enter the sections in chronological order, the sequence of entry is not fixed as the learning process can be cumulative. This is a further consequence of the reasoning that a full understanding of the subject requires cross-referencing formal qualities with different theoretical angles presented.

A teacher would have freedom, therefore, to draw on the sections to develop a particular technical feature with reference to the paintings. Below I discuss two usages in more detail, with relation to possible advantages within a classroom or other didactic situation.

The first example demonstrates how a teacher can use multimedia as a tool for more detailed analysis and the second demonstrates an instance where the medium is useful for the demonstration of synthesis, or the co-relationships present in one composition (Figs. 3-5).

Fig. 3. A.

Fig. 3. B.

Fig. 3. Turning a sequence of numbers into weights of tone and musical analogies.
A. The numerical harmonies as a method of weighing colours for distribution in the painting composition.
B. Range of tones as musical scales. The user passes the cursor over the notes to create a tune and see tones.

Fig. 41. A.

Fig. 4. B.

Fig. 4. Turning a sequence of numbers into a balanced tonal composition.
A. The numerical harmonies as described by Paul Klee.
B. The same numerical code converted into a range of tones. The user passes the cursor over the numbers to complete the conversion.

Fig. 5. A.

Fig. 5. B.

Fig. 5. Every colour, even a pure one, has a tonal value.
A. Substituting pure colours within the same tonal arrangement as above.
B. Screen shot from another section explaining tints and tones of a range of pure colours. When the user places the cursor over one of the centre colours, the black and white gradient fills with the tones and tints of that colour. It is also possible to see that, for example, the full tonal range of yellow is lighter than that of blue. (Relevant to 5A).

Example of the use of multimedia as a tool for more detailed analysis
In the following example, the medium proves advantageous in the close analysis of paintings with relation to any one in particular of the technical qualities of colour.

Developing the same example as previously, after the distinction between tint and tone has been perceived, a teacher could draw attention to the different application of this technique within compositions. For example, the concept of gradation of tones could be seen as significant in one way in the Klee painting Eros, 1923, for example, where, in combination with progressive layers of translucent paint, it represents the ephemeral qualities of transience and change, and is aligned with concepts from Goethe's Theory of Colours (Fig. 6). Yet it is evident that a similar use of tone has been possible to apply in another way, with relation to parallels with musical tone, where, in combination with qualities such as opacity, translucency, contrast and optical mixing, the numerical games are translated as tonal combinations on a chess-board format to create harmonic compositions (Figs. 3-5). This can also be explored further with relation to Paul Klee's polyphonic painting.

Fig. 6 A

Fig. 6 B

Fig. 6 A. Part of animation based on Klee's Notebooks, explaining superimposed layers of complementary colours.
B. Graphic Diagram of composition of the Painting Eros by Paul Klee. Sequence especially demonstrating links between the colours of sunset, the prism and Goethe's idea of the primordial phenomenon from his Theory of Colours.

The middle period, the 'German Section (1915 - 1933)', was chosen as the foundation of the more detailed analysis of any one of the overall themes. Paul Klee left many notes and sketches which demonstrate the thinking process behind his final compositions, these additional sources are 'readable' as a set of visual symbols. ⁸ It would therefore be a logical step for a teacher to demonstrate the manifestation of ideas within the paintings themselves.

In the section 'Colour Theory – Klee', relevant chapters of Klee's Notebooks⁹ were selected and explained through animation. Familiarity with these concepts enables the user to perceive echoes in the completed paintings. Given that the inter-referential possibilities are vast, it is therefore easy for teachers to select the relevant themes and follow them throughout the different subsections. Only those themes that were also relevant elsewhere in the presentation were selected, highlighting one or two of the most central points. This opens the possibility for the users – either teacher or pupil – to use their imaginations to draw up further conclusions. Thus, the focus here is on a distinguishing feature of Klee's theory of colour, his emphasis on the analogy between music and colour. Here, among other criteria, Klee's use of translucent washes to represent the different voices of harmonies in his Canon of Colour Totality is explained visually, as is the fact that the rhythm of tones and music were important to the flux within the painting.

The section 'Colour Theory – Klee' bears close associations with the section on musical analogy, which includes sub-sections 'Parallels With Shape', 'Musical And Visual Tone' as well as an interpretation of the painting Alter Klang (Ancient Sound/Harmony, 1925).¹⁰ In 'Parallels with Shape', for example, having taken Klee's Notebooks as a point of reference, the way that certain abstract forms can suggest noises or sounds is demonstrated. For example, a jagged shape suggests the sound of glass breaking, a spiral shape suggests an equivalent whirring sound. With this kind of on-screen participation the teacher can demonstrate, or the pupils themselves can experiment with, the activities linking sound and vision. The user therefore participates in these analogies by clicking on each one of a set of bold shapes on the screen to discover the equivalent noise. Also, in the introduction the user is invited to pass the cursor across Klee's painting Tightrope Walker (Seiltänzer, 1923) in order to hear different sounds which focus on the varying textures of line contained within the composition. The actual sounds that arise are my own interpretation but the basic idea is in keeping with Klee's explanations in the Notebooks (particularly 'The Thinking Eye') where he describes the idea of taking a line for a walk, as though the line has a temporal significance through the viewer's imagination, which calls up the physical experience of tracing along a line through a variety of abstract atmospheres.

The series of screens which follow provide the opportunity for the teacher or user to click buttons which break apart the composition of a Polyphony painting to see the various layers of coloured washes and textures that are intended to be suggestive of the different voices in polyphonic music. Thus the pupils have the chance to be gradually introduced to interrelated concepts which extend the significance of colour within the composition.

Similarly, in 'Musical and Visual Tone', for example, the user has the opportunity to play a tune on-screen (Fig. 3B) and discover the relevant visual tonal equivalent or numerical codification (Figs. 3A, 4A and B), in order to observe more closely these analogies between the senses of sound and colour or tonal recognition. The user has the chance to experiment with the abstract idea that the rising and falling of sequences of tones in music is similar to the gradations of tone or numerical patterns (Compare Figs. 3B, 4A, 5A and B).

The learning process is altered because, rather than being purely chronological in development it is accumulative. Therefore you do not need a start middle and end because you build a thematic and multi-dimensional understanding of the subject. Thus, through this kind of learning, although each section in the presentation is self contained, it gains richness if viewed in relation to the points made elsewhere. For example, the experience of the section on 'Musical Analogies' is enhanced if viewed with relation to the following points which are brought out in independent sections:

a) 'Paul Klee's Colour Theory' as mentioned above, where the 'Canon of Colour Totality' is explained, along with the basis of spatial and temporal issues within the painting, such as flux and rhythm.

b) Albert Munsell's codification of graded shapes as number and as related to music, which is explained in more detail through interactive animations in the sections, 'The Munsell System' and 'Codifying Colours'.

c) The colour theorists Charles Blanc and Goethe had suggested music and colour were related harmonies, and that both media have the capacity to affect the senses directly; this is indicated in their respective sections.

Through the interactive introduction, therefore, my aim is to demonstrate some of the notions behind Klee's Magic Square compositions. The section culminates with an animated analysis of the painting Alter Klang. The animation demonstrates, by drawing together the disciplines of music and vision, what Klee might have meant by the different registers of voices within the painting. As the music of a Bach Toccata plays the melody in higher notes, the lighter toned squares of the composition are accentuated, and where the darker harmonies of the bass grow into a crescendo of musical chords, within the animation the darker tones at the edges of the painting are built up in unison. The iridescent colours of the centre of the composition are therefore presented as a subtly vibrating mosaic of light colours set against the profound dark brown harmonies at the edges of the composition.

Through this musical interpretation of the ideas contained in Paul Klee's Notebooks, especially The Thinking Eye, the painting is introduced as containing the kind of resonance that is also present in harmonies of music. This theme recurs in relation to the paintings of Rothko as seen in the America section, when the same painting, Alter Klang is set against the glowing canvases of Rothko, which are also said to appear to resonate, in a way similar to chords of music, with 'inner light'.

Example of the co-relationship of many themes as present in one composition – 'Synthesis – Rhythm and Motion'

The section 'Synthesis – Rhythm and Motion' represents a point of consolidation and focus within the CD-ROM for the user to collect together the cross section of ideas (Fig. 7). The aim, here, is to recall the themes presented throughout the presentation within one screen, through the analysis of one particular painting, and yet maintain awareness that there are many subtle differences between the manner that these themes are treated in the different eras of Western modernism. This is to reinforce the diversity of ideas at play in any one painting and encapsulates the advantages of multimedia over linear written cross-referencing explanations.

The section 'Synthesis - Rhythm and Motion' opens with a screen where the painting Once Emerged from the Grey of Night ('Einst in dem Grau der Nacht', 1918) is represented by an icon at the nucleus of an animated flow chart, where icons representing themes which recur in other sections, circulate around the nucleus and are consciously set up to act as subliminal references – like symbolic representations of the leitmotifs which are repeated throughout the presentation.

Fig. 7 A

Fig. 7 B

Fig. 7. Synthesis of many themes in one painting.
A. Original flow chart - preparation of animated screen.
B. The flow chart is animated on screen and acts as a menu for further information. Clicking the centre animates the screen demonstrating that the poem/painting discusses verbally and visually, the transition from day into night, echoing discussions of similar themes in other paintings.

Placing the cursor on any one of these animated icons pauses the animation and clicking on the icon reveals a summary of the theme which is discussed in more detail elsewhere in the CD-ROM presentation, emphasising its relevance to this particular painting. On clicking the painting itself, situated in the centre of the screen, an animation displaying the text in its original German and in translation in English begins to play, with accompanying music of the period by Eric Satie, extracted from Enfantines of 1913. The inclusion of music is particularly effective in augmenting the sensation of unfolding time as the words of the poem follow the transition of colours from daytime to night time.¹¹

Problem solving – adaptations necessary to suit an ever advancing technology

Development towards web publication.
New technologies change so rapidly that it was felt important that the project should adapt accordingly. Throughout the planning of the CD-ROM, consideration of the hardware equipment available to the user audience was crucial, but in a fast moving area of technology it is also necessary to use all the facilities available to the user of the future.

Early in the research, possibilities of links from CD-ROM to internet sites had been explored and this gradually became possible. A wealth of relevant web sites can now be accessed directly from the presentation, which extended the scope of the project considerably. Similarly, several adjustments were made to make certain features compatible with the web. For example, some parts of the Macromedia Director presentation were adapted as online documents, needing the plugin for Shockwave. With the increased availability of broadband within educational and artistic institutions, such facilities will become increasingly common, therefore the most recent section on American Abstract Expressionism was fully developed for the web publication using a combination of HTML pages with inserted Macromedia Flash documents.¹² The Flash documents can either be included in a Director presentation or independently launched on the web. To reduce loading times, 'streaming' techniques were adopted, which means the first part is played while the remainder is still loading.

Using Flash and experimenting with the wide screen
In the HTML and Flash setup, advantage was taken of the possibilities of navigating a wide screen, which scrolls widthwise between subsections. Through this version the user can access the main information, and scroll along the screen to find reference to supplementary items, such as a list of noteworthy contemporary personalities, or information on exhibitions that were being held during the period.

Another example of the use of the wide screen is in the section on Barnett Newman, where for example, alongside the main information it is possible to view reproductions of typical paintings of his early middle and late periods which contain hot spots indicating information on the salient points of each style.

User activity was also developed further in this web compatible version. For example, in the section on Rothko the user clicks on the paintings on the walls of a graphic representation of the Houston chapel in order to reach the explanations. Rothko's works, which use colour as metaphor and with relation to musical and linguistic analogies, can be set alongside those of Jackson Pollock, where colour is aligned with gestural and action painting.

Links with other sections, such as the previously mentioned 'Movement – Tracing the Artist' are reinforced and activities illustrate the similarities, where, for example, the user can pass the cursor across a blank canvas and leave colourful trails, similar to the manner in which Pollock applied gestural movements of dripping paint on his own canvases.

The final era of the presentation represents another focus point, culminating with a comparative analysis of two paintings from different eras, Eros by Paul Klee, which has been analysed elsewhere in the CD-ROM, and Horizon Light, 1949 by Barnett Newman. They would appear to represent a set of very similar issues, but the method of production and scale of the resultant compositions of paintings pinpoints the change in the role of colour in the two different eras.

Here, therefore another way of organising many themes on one page is manifest. This time as a more conventional row of buttons where the themes are represented by the titles of the button links. The two paintings are compared and analysed with relation to the list of themes which recall explanations made in other areas of the CD-ROM. Thus the subtle differences between the use of colour in the different eras of Modernism are accentuated.

Conclusions. Towards a network society

The potential for the medium as an art educational tool has been demonstrated through examples from the CD-ROM. Especially useful are the navigational possibilities for cross referencing and comparative analysis which multimedia presentations permit, also the didactic capacity to include animations, sequences of slides and user activities.

The methodology of learning is also affected. The information is more accessible because explanations remain, as far as possible, within the visual language and, therefore, avoid intensive verbal explanations within the screens themselves. Instead animation and visual means are employed, to take advantage of the direct communication that colour can have on the senses. Also, throughout the creation of the visual presentation, there was consciousness of the need to preserve the linear thread of each section, but the user would gain cumulative knowledge whilst passing from section to section as there exists a coherent flow of an idea or theme, which recur as leitmotifs throughout the work.

Multimedia can be especially suited to art historical surveys because their flexibility enables either individual paintings or whole art historical epochs to be approached from both technical and historical angles within one study. In this case, the significance of synthesis, familiar to Modernist artists, is reinforced within the present day capacities of multimedia. In addition the ideas themselves, which depend upon the use of various senses, are made more accessible, assimilated more rapidly, and have the capacity to be understood more profoundly through the interactive medium.

Thus a formula is created which is very easily extended towards a network society. In the light of new interest in learning objects, modules can be created with user activities which can be chosen an customised by teachers to create a greater general understanding of the languages involved in paintings of the Modernist period.

November 2002

Notes

1. My definition of interactive here being, containing user choice and clickable activities.

2. The home page of this bilingual site is at www.futuro.usp.br. The Virtual Library, in Portuguese is at www.bibvirt.futuro.usp.

3. The Blue Rider to which Delaunay and Klee were affiliated was founded by Franz Marc and Kandinsky in Munich in 1911.

4. A recent book by J. Golding, Paths to the Absolute, Thames and Hudson, 2002, discusses this with relation to various epochs of Modernist painting. With regard to Kandinsky's vision of an absolute art, John Harrison in Synaesthesia, The Strangest Thing, Oxford University Press, 2001, reflects whether the Gesamtkunstwerk might be a result of his synaesthesia, concluding: 'The evidence suggests that Kandinsky was seeking a synaesthetic dimension to his work, rather than his art being an expression of his synaesthesia.'

5. The simultaneous painting/poem Prose of the Transsiberian and Little Jehanne of France by Sonia Delaunay and Blaise Cendrars is discussed with relation to Apollinaire's words (1914) that the work could be viewed as a whole or as a linear accompaniment '… in order to train the eye to read with one glance the whole of a poem, as an orchestra conductor reads with one glance the notes placed up and down on the bar, as one sees with a single glance the plastic elements printed on a poster.'

6. The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky was first performed in 1913, when its musical structure shocked the public. For general outline of music and painting at this time, see: L. Dennison, '1912', Art of This Century, The Guggenheim Museum and its Collection; Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; 1993, p. 109ff. This essay discusses the many events which have influenced subsequent 20th-century artistic expression.

7. Siegel, D. (1998), Creating Killer Websites. Hayden Books (see also www.killersites.com). Chapter 2 suggests the idea of an 'umbrella' metaphor that arouses curiosity for channelling, entering and continuing the navigation. It also creates a logical sign system for recognising and distinguishing navigational icons.

8. Such interpretations were prevalent within a wider context in the Modernist period, therefore they can easily serve as a basis for a general understanding of how abstract elements of the composition – especially, in this case, colour – were thought to convey meaning.

9. Klee, P., 'The Thinking Eye', The Notebooks of Paul Klee,. Ed. J. Spiller, London and New York, 2nd. ed. 1964, Vol. 1.

10. Klang is the word also used by Kandinsky in many compositions which draw parallels between sound and colour as seen in his 'Concerning the Spiritual in Art'. For an analysis of music in Klee's work see A. Kagan, Paul Klee: Art and Music, Ithaca, New York, 1983. Also more recently R. Kudielka, 'Colour and I Are One. The Journey to Tunisia and the Origin of the Square Paintings', Paul Klee, The Nature of Creation, exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, April 2002.

11. For example, this painting 'Once Emerged from the Grey of Night' (1918), represents one stage in Paul Klee's journey to synthesise many themes in one painting through the use of colour alone. Klee achieved this more fully through later paintings such as 'Eros' (1923). Also the 'Polyphony' paintings, discussed in the section 'Parallels With Shape' of the CD-Rom represent a more sophisticated manifestation of synthesis, since they do not resort to the use of text in order to create a linear flow from one colour to the next, but instead, rhythmical musical analogies take precedence. A semiotic analyses of the painting 'Once Emerged from the Grey of Night' exist in two essays from the book, Crone, Rainer and Koerner, Joseph, Paul Klee. Legends of the Sign, Columbia Univ. Press, NY, 1991. The essay by Crone, Rainer 'Cosmic Fragments of Meaning: On the Syllables of Paul Klee', p. 37, is especially relevant.

12. If you would like to see these, please contact me on mmpp@waitrose.com or mmpp@durand.com.br