Urgent Museum Notice

Composition of Circles and Semicircles

Close up of Composition of Circles and Semicircles

An abstract painting features a mix of similarly sized circles and semicircles in white, red, and multiple shades of blue placed against a dark background.
An abstract painting features a mix of similarly sized circles and semicircles in white, red, and multiple shades of blue placed against a dark background.
Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Composition of Circles and Semicircles, 1935; Gouache on paper, 10 x 13 1/2 in.; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay; © Sophie Taeuber-Arp/Artists Rights Society (ARS)/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

In the 1910s, Sophie Taeuber-Arp was deeply involved with the Dada art movement in Zurich, which expressed shock and anger over the atrocities surrounding World War I. While many artists of the time created politically-charged or surrealistic imagery, Taeuber-Arp expressed her radical vision through geometric-based paintings, sculptures, textile designs, and stage sets. Her spare aesthetic extended from her belief in the innate expressive power of color, line, and form.

In this painting, the mix of half and whole circles and varying levels of intensity among the colors give the painting a strong sense of movement. This quality of mostion may reflect Taeuber-Arp’s experience as a dancer and choreographer of avant-garde “performances” related to the Dada group’s activities. At the time she created this painting, Taeuber-Arp and her husband, French artist Jean Arp, lived in Paris. Both were members of the city’s influential Abstraction–Création group, which championed geometric abstract art in particular and whose membership included artists from across Europe.

Artwork Details

  • Artist

    Sophie Taeuber-Arp
  • Title

    Composition of Circles and Semicircles
  • Date

    1935
  • Medium

    Gouache on paper
  • Dimensions

    10 x 13 ½ in
  • Donor Credit

    Gift of Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay
  • On Display

    No