Otto Piene, Bronze and Gold III, 1959

Abstract

The analysis of the abstract work by Otto Piene shows that the painting, which at first glance seems purely aesthetic, primarily intended to produce a sense of pleasure, can potentially speak to the most profound, existential (in the Jaspersian sense of the term) essence of man. The analysis discusses the visual qualities which, on the one hand, apply to the plane of the painting, and, on the other, to the viewer who assumes a vertical position in front of the painting. The description of these qualities, which come into being in the experience of art grounded not in the soul [Seele] rather than the psyche, employs the concepts of tremendum and fascinosum; these two categories allow the author to express the dual nature of the human experience of the sacred.