Blue Mysteries Near the Sun, No. 4
Vance Kirkland
1976
75 in. x 100 in.
Gift of Vance H. and Anne O. Kirkland, 1982.547
Photograph © Denver Art Museum 2009. All Rights Reserved.
Vance Kirkland made more than 1,100 paintings during his 55-year career, although he got off to a bit of a rough start. Born and raised in Ohio, Kirkland attended the Cleveland Institute of Art where as a freshman he failed his watercolor class. His professors complained that Kirkland’s colors “fought” each other and did not exist in natural landscapes. After graduating, he moved to Denver, when at the age of 24 he was invited by the University of Denver to establish an art school in Chappell House. A few years later, he left the university and founded the Kirkland School of Art on Pearl Street in Denver. When he returned to the university in 1946, he retained the studio and art school building as his personal painting space. Kirkland was an active supporter of the arts community in Denver. He died in 1981.
Kirkland spent the early part of his career painting traditional landscapes. His paintings soon began to take on a more mystical appearance as he began incorporating imaginary forms into nature, leading to Surrealism. Kirkland switched gears again in 1954 and spent the rest of his painting career imagining the visual possibilities of space. He said, “I think it is the unknown things that fascinated me all the way along—to visualize what might have happened billions of years ago as things exploded in the universe.”
In 1954 Kirkland began painting what he called his “Energy in Space Abstractions.” At the time, much remained unknown about the conditions and quality of outer space, which left Kirkland free to depict space any way he could imagine: “My idea of trying to visualize all the things that have been happening in space over 25 billion years gives me the freedom of imagination without being tied down to any exact image of reporting nature. It may come from nature but it’s not the nature we are sure of. It’s a guess kind of nature. These are imaginary events that might have happened, not actual events.”
Details
Color
Kirkland liked to use contrasting colors. He chose vibrant colors that he felt captured the movement and energy that he imagined to be in space. He said, “I limit myself to those color combinations which seem to vibrate and can, therefore, form illusions of floating mysteries of explosions of energy in space.”
Shapes
The cloud-like forms that Kirkland scattered across the canvas are irregular in color and shape. He made them by combining oil paint with water, He poured that mixture onto the flat canvas, and then removed the water, leaving unique moon-like textures. They might represent the aftermath of an explosion or clouds of gases floating in space.
Movement
Irregular shapes and varied color may suggest sudden movement or expansion. Areas of green that seem to seep in on the left and lower right edges might appear to some viewers as a scattering or joining of gases or energies.
Dots
Kirkland tried to create the effect of many layers, or fields of energy, in his depictions of space. Red, white, blue, orange, and yellow dots are layered over the cloud-like shapes. Kirkland kept a collection of unconventional tools, such as wooden dowels, twigs, and paint brushes with the hairs of the brush cut off, to create precise dots of contrasting colors. To paint these precise dots, Kirkland fashioned straps suspended above the canvas he was working on. Lying in the straps, he hovered over the painting, moving the canvas (which he placed on top of skateboards) beneath him so he could reach any section of the painting he wished to work on.
Perspective
Kirkland’s paintings are like little universes within themselves, with no fixed points of reference, and they leave room for countless interpretations. In fact, some of Kirkland’s paintings, like this one, are not signed, while others have two signatures, so that the painting can be hung in multiple ways. Which way is up? Which way is down? How far away are we from the cloud-like shapes? Is direction even relevant in space?
More Resources
Books
Weiermair, Peter, ed., and Dianne Perry Vanderlip. Vance Kirkland 1904-1981. Zurich, Switzerland: Edition Stemmle, 1999.
Catalogue from a 1998 exhibition at the Frankfurter Kunstverein.
Graham, Ian. My Book of Space. New York: Kingfisher, 2001.
Ages 4-8. This colorful book introduces young readers to the amazing world of space, space travel, and the vehicles we use to explore it.
Bingham, Caroline. First Space Encyclopedia. New York: DK Publishing Inc., 2008.
For ages 6 and up, this book introduces kids to the universe: the planets in our solar system, other galaxies, astronomical features like black holes and comets, and discussions about space exploration and the associated technology.
Carson, Mary Kay. Exploring the Solar System: A History with 22 Activities (For Kids Series). Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2008.
This book takes readers ages 9-12 through a timeline of space and space travel with excellent color images, historical information about space and space travelers, and lots of ideas for projects and reports.
Sparrow, Giles. The Planets: A Journey Through the Solar System. United Kingdom: Quercus, 2009.
In nearly 200 color images, this book provides a closer look at all of the planets, comets, and other entities in the solar system.
Funding for object education resources provided by a grant from the Morgridge Family Foundation. Additional funding provided by the William Randolph Hearst Endowment for Education Programs, and Xcel Energy Foundation. We thank our colleagues at the University of Denver Morgridge College of Education.
The images on this page are intended for classroom use only and may not be reproduced for other reasons without the permission of the Denver Art Museum. This object may not currently be on display at the museum.
