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united states of americaconcept:era modern

Vir Heroicus Sublimis

Oil on canvas (1950–1951) by Barnett Newman. At 17 feet wide, the vast red canvas with five thin 'zip' lines was designed to envelop the viewer in colour. Newman's most celebrated work and a founding monument of Color Field painting.

Scholarly Significance

Newman's Vir Heroicus Sublimis (1950–51) is the defining Color Field painting and the 'zip' practice made monumental. Anchors Abstract Expressionism's encounter with the Sublime.

Notes

  • ·Barnett Newman painted this work in 1950–1951; the Latin title means 'Heroic Sublime Man'.
  • ·The canvas measures approximately 8 feet high and 17 feet wide — designed to be viewed from close proximity, so the painting overwhelms the viewer's field of vision.
  • ·Five thin vertical bands ('zips') bisect the red field at irregular intervals: soft-edged and precise, warm and cool tones.
  • ·Newman published a note at the work's 1951 first exhibition at Betty Parsons Gallery: 'I hope that my painting will give man a sense of place: that he knows he's there, so he's aware of himself.'
  • ·The work is a realisation of Newman's theoretical 'The Sublime Is Now' (1948): rejecting Greek beauty for an immediate, affective, non-referential experience.
  • ·Donated to MoMA by Ben and Mitzi Heller in 1969.