František Kupka’s “The Yellow Scale”
František Kupka, The Yellow Scale, c. 1907, oil on canvas, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, John A. and Audrey Jones Beck Collection, Museum purchase funded by Audrey Jones Beck. © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris
Lecture | František Kupka’s The Yellow Scale
Speaker: Alison de Lima Greene, the Isabel Brown Wilson Curator, Department of Modern and Contemporary Art
The Yellow Scale by František Kupka is at once a penetrating portrait and a radical exploration of the power of color. The painting entered the MFAH collection through the generosity of Audrey Jones Beck, and it is on view in the Beck Building.
A vital member of the Symbolist movement that flourished in Prague and Vienna in the last years of the 19th century, Kupka had made his home in Paris in 1894, and by 1907 he had embraced the new spirit of Modernism that was sweeping the city. More than any other canvas, The Yellow Scale represents a turning point as Kupka was about to embark on a path that would ultimately lead to pure abstraction. This talk places the unforgettable painting in the context of Kupka’s contributions to the Czech avant-garde, his exploration of music and color, and the portrait’s philosophical underpinnings.
Plan Your Visit Admission is free. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis in Lynn Wyatt Theater, located in the Kinder Building. On Thursdays, the Museum is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. with free general admission.
Safety Guidelines In the interest of your personal safety and community health, please observe all precautions set forth by the MFAH—learn more here.
Generous support for this program is provided by:
The Peter Lotz Memorial Fund