Dorothea Rockburne Pascal's Provincial Letters

Dorothea Rockburne’s deep interest of mathematics influenced her artwork (30). Dorothea Rockburne’s work, Pascal’s Provincial Letters, was focused on the inherent relationship between the rectilinear shapes of multiple colors shown against a backdrop of deep, dark undertones of blue. Contemporary artists, like Rockburne, take in consideration of current ideas and force the audience to rethink the familiar. In this piece, Dorothea Rockburne uses a contemporary color scheme, lines, and shapes in Pascal’s Provincial Letters, in order to demonstrate the theme of contemporary art which mirrors contemporary culture and society.
Dorothea Rockburne uses multiple different colors throughout her painting. The artist uses complementary colors that tug equally at the eye. She uses a dynamic contrast of red and green to two of the shapes. Due to this, the artist keeps the viewers eyes from resting on one area of the composition for far too long. In this painting, Dorothea uses value contrast to show the differences in dark and light. While some tones appear lighter due to the artist adding white as if illuminated, other tones are darkened as if to suggest that a light has caused the shapes to have created shadows. Unlike realistic shadows that appear off in one direction of all objects, the shadows created in Rockburne’s painting appear as if …show more content…
Lines can be perceived when they connect, are in close proximity, or are adjacent to other lines. In her painting, Rockburne uses sharp, straight lines that intersect multiple times all over the composition. Dorothea Rockburne’s use of diagonal, horizontal, and vertical lines provide a basic structure to the work of art. Horizontal lines suggest calmness, while vertical lines suggest a sense of permanency. The use of diagonal lines are the most dynamic, restless lines (24). Rockburne uses these lines in order to define the shapes shown in Pascal’s Provincial