ABSTRACT
This chapter presents Impressionist and Modernist paintings which experiment with figuration, abstraction and the transformation of light, color and forms and does so in ways that help authors to investigate a theophanic aesthetic outside the framework of the icon. The sensation of light in things and the transference of this experience to painting were central to the emergence of Modernist art. At first an Impressionist, Camille Pissaro became interested in Georges Seurat's pointillism, the application of small and tight units of color in order to achieve greater luminosity and precision in tone and color. Apple Harvest forms out of the intensity and vibrancy of light. But unlike Pisarro's Apple Harvest, color in The Sower becomes the dominant physical element: an alternative form of material subsistence. In Suprematist Painting the yellow rectangle gives the impression of a theoretical object or a compositional and chromatic experiment. Finally, the chapter compares The Holy Trinity and The Savior with two Mark Rothko paintings.
