PAINTINGS
NO. 13 TO 24

PAINTING, MATHEMATICS
AND MUSIC
PERLES DE VERRE PRODUCTION

TECHNICAL NOTE
ON THE IMAGES
OF THE PAINTINGS

The images presented on this website are intended for information and documentation purposes.

They cannot reproduce the colours, materials and surface relief of the original works with absolute accuracy.

PAINTINGS INSPIRED
BY A MUSICAL MOTIF AND
A NOVEL BY HERMANN HESSE

The paintings presented in this section are inspired by Hermann Hesse’s novel The Glass Bead Game (French title: Le Jeu des Perles de Verre), in which the narrator, a fictional historian of the Game, writes by way of introduction (translated from the French edition):

“This Game has always been closely linked to music and was generally conducted according to musical or mathematical rules. One, two or three themes were set and performed; they were subjected to variations and treated much like a fugue or a passage in a concert work. A game could, for example, take as its starting point a given astronomical configuration or the theme of a Bach fugue…”

The idea of taking the theme of a Bach fugue as a starting point provided the guiding thread for the PERLES DE VERRE body of work: to use, in one way or another, a graphic representation of the famous B-A-C-H motif from the unfinished ending of Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Art of Fugue.

This motif appears towards the end of the final fugue in The Art of Fugue.

SIX PAINTINGS FROM THE SERIES
DROITES I - DROITES II
CERCLES I - CERCLES II

These six paintings present colour variations based on the graphic B-A-C-H motif.

Traces of mathematical equations can be seen in the paintings. These are equations from analytic geometry involving four reference points, A, B, C and H, whose coordinates translate into graphic form the four notes B-A-C-H (B-flat, A, C and B-natural) appearing at the end of Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Art of Fugue.

TWO PAINTINGS
FROM THE
OPUS 28 SERIES

These two paintings are part of a series of twelve paintings of the same dimensions, inspired by the String Quartet, Op. 28 by Austrian composer Anton Webern (1883–1945).

Traces of mathematical notation can be seen in the paintings, reflecting different mathematical approaches to the number 12. They refer directly to the twelve-tone technique and the serial music developed by the composers of the Second Viennese School, particularly Anton Webern.

TWO PAINTINGS
FROM THE
CANTORS’ NUMBERS SERIES

These two paintings are part of a series of forty-eight paintings in different colours and sizes. Each painting is devoted to a particular number. The two selected paintings correspond to the numbers 875 and 877. The series as a whole covers the integers from 846 to 893.

Those familiar with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach will recognise these as the BWV catalogue numbers of the preludes and fugues in the two books of The Well-Tempered Clavier. The German composer is the first “Cantor” referred to in the series title, an allusion to his designation as the Cantor of Leipzig.

The series title also refers to another “Cantor”, less well known to the general public: the mathematician Georg Cantor, whose work on set theory notably demonstrated the existence of different forms of infinity in mathematics.

TWO PAINTINGS
FROM THE
VIA CRUCIS SERIES

These two paintings are part of the VIA CRUCIS series, which comprises twelve works of the same dimensions.

Traces of Latin inscriptions can be seen at the top and bottom of each composition. These are two phrases from the liturgy of the Catholic Mass: GRATIAS AGIMUS TIBI and DONA NOBIS PACEM.

Johann Sebastian Bach set both liturgical texts to music in his Mass in B minor. Both settings use the same music: a majestic fugue built on an ascending theme, first introduced by the bass voices.

BACK TO THE
SELECTION OF
60 PAINTINGS

Click the button to return to the page presenting the selection of sixty paintings created between 2011 and 2026, arranged in five groups.