A Young Girl Running on a Balcony _{(Giacomo Balla, Futurism)}

A Young Girl Running on a Balcony was painted in the midst of the futurist movement. The futurists were very interested in how artwork could portray movement. Balla, in particular, was known for experimenting with movement in his paintings. Balla's idea behind the painting was that everything is always in motion and therefore a painting needs to depict movement.

The title of the piece gives a clue as to what the subject of the painting is. Once it becomes clear that the subject is a girl, her outline becomes apparent. The reason the picture looks abstract is because the artist depicts the subject at multiple points in time as she is running. Balla blurs the lines between the movements of the girl. He makes it so the girls' movements aren't disjointed, but are in fact one continuous fluid movement. This painting was one of many paintings that Balla used to experiment with "physical reality and optical appearance" of movement. Balla is so detailed that you can tell how the little girl's braid moves back and forth as she moves. He painted each part of her body to be one specific color, for instance her dress is blue and her shoes are brown, so the viewer can easily follow the movements that the girl makes.

Balla's Other Works