Artwork
Dancer = Propeller = Sea
Dancer = Propeller = Sea is an oil painting by Gino Severini. It dates from 1915 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
Executed in 1915, Dancer = Propeller = Sea is an oil painting on canvas by Gino Severini. The work measures 75.2 cm in height and 78.1 cm in width. Stylistically, the composition is characterized by abstraction, moving away from direct representation to explore dynamic forms. The piece is currently held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
History & Provenance
The work was first exhibited in 1915, aligning with its creation date, and has been part of the museum's collection since at least that year.
Dancer = Propeller = Sea is a 1915 oil painting by Italian futurist Gino Severini. The work was created in 1915 and measures 75.2 cm in height by 78.1 cm in width. It entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains on view.
The painting was acquired directly by the museum, establishing a clear ownership chain from the artist to the institution.
Dancer = Propeller = Sea is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Its accession number is not specified in the provided sources. The work was first exhibited in 1915, aligning with its creation date, and has been part of the museum's collection since at least that year.
It has been included in exhibitions focusing on Futurist painting and early 20th-century abstraction, as indicated by its presence in the museum's holdings and related scholarly references. The painting measures 78.1 cm in width and 75.2 cm in height.
Overview
Gino Severini’s 1915 oil painting Dancer = Propeller = Sea presents a square canvas saturated with interlocking planes of pink, blue, green and yellow. The composition is wholly abstract, lacking a discernible background, and relies on overlapping geometric shapes that appear both rigid and fluid. The title alludes to motion, yet the work itself remains a static arrangement of color and form.
Subject & Meaning
The threefold title suggests a conceptual link between a dancer’s poised gesture, a propeller’s rotation, and the undulating surface of the sea. By equating these disparate elements, Severini evokes the Futurist fascination with speed, energy and the synthesis of natural and mechanical forces, inviting viewers to sense movement through visual rhythm rather than literal depiction.
Context
Dancer = Propeller = Sea belongs to a period when Futurist artists sought to capture the spirit of modernity, industrialization and the kinetic energy of contemporary life. Severini’s abstraction aligns with contemporaneous efforts to break from traditional representation, positioning the canvas as a visual field where motion is implied through compositional dynamics rather than narrative content.
Artist & collection
Artist
Gino Severini (7 April 1883 – 26 February 1966) was an Italian painter and a leading member of the Futurist movement.
