Blue and Red Prometheus

The tale of Prometheus is a popular myth of ancient Greece about the creation of mankind and the fulfilment of destiny. For Kupka, Prometheus symbolized the artist and creativity, revival, liberation and creative inspiration. The figure of Prometheus and the stylized details of plants indicate that Kupka turned to pre−Classical art for his artistic expression: to the ancient cultures of Crete and Mycenae, Greek art of the Archaic Period, and ancient Etruscan and Assyrian art. The figure is perceived as a system of varicoloured, “burning−hot” rays that mould the figure into a near image of the solar deity. Although Kupka works here with an evident figural motif, he disrupts its totality and corporality through a system of energies emanating from the plants, the sky, the earth and the figure. These energies blend, creating a peculiar, organic psycho−physical continuum. It will take little for these energies to be liberated and to suppress figurative representation. In this sense, Prometheus was a messenger of abstraction for Kupka.