Empreintes de pinceau n° 50 répétées à intervalles réguliers de 30 cm, 1977
Information about the artwork
- Translated titleImprints of a paintbrush no. 50 repeated at regular intervals of 30 cm
- MaterialAcrylic on canvas
- Dimensions150.6 x 150.7 x 2.8 cm
- Year of acquisition1988
- Inventory number15614
- On viewOn view
- Copyright© Niele Toroni. VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn [2026]. Photo: Haydar Koyupinar, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Museum Brandhorst, Munich
More about the artwork
Since 1966, all of Niele Toroni’s works have carried the same title: “Imprints of a paintbrush no. 50 repeated at regular intervals of 30 cm.” The title defines the method: imprints of a 50 mm brush applied to a given surface—always the same, always at a fixed distance. This creates potentially infinite images, and anything can become the carrier: (canvas) walls, floors, or windows. In this way, Toroni is considered a pioneer of site-specific art. The method allows no deviations and aligns with ideas circulating on both sides of the Atlantic. At the time, the artist Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) spoke of how “the idea becomes a machine that makes the art.” The standardization of the creative process was intended to eliminate the subjective from the artwork. Toroni’s renunciation of the personal went so far as to omit his name from the invitation to his first solo exhibition—instead, visitors were simply invited to see “Imprints of a paintbrush no. 50 repeated at regular intervals of 30 cm.” While his critique overlaps with that of his contemporaries, Toroni understands his practice, unlike many who rejected painting altogether, as a contribution to its radical redefinition: his works mark the transition from painting as a vehicle of expression to a process-oriented understanding of image, space, and viewer.
