Himmel, ca. 1914-1915. Marsden Hartley. Oil on canvas. Gift of the Friends of Art.
Marsden Hartley's Himmel appears like a night display of fireworks translated into paint on canvas and across the frame. The composition's overlapping, abstract, colorful shapes are rooted in French Cubism's motifs and palette. The concentric discs floating across the painting reveal Hartley's knowledge of American Indian design. They also may relate to cockades that decorated the German military uniforms that Hartley saw while living in Berlin at the onset of World War I. The German words for heaven (Himmel) and hell (Hölle) frame two conical shapes that resemble Zuckertüte, colorful bags of candy given to German schoolchildren. Combining childhood themes with military references, Hartley suggests that war is a kind of game that may end in salvation or damnation.
