The Swiss watch giant Swatch has released their collaboration with the Centre Pompidou base in Paris, France. The Centre Pompidou is home to an extensive public Information library, the Musée National d’Art Moderne, and IRCAM, a centre for music and acoustic research. In their collaboration Swatch has concentrated its efforts mostly on the Modern Art Museum, which is the largest modern art gallery in Europe. The Swatch x Centre Pompidou watches are inspired by the art of Frida Kahlo, Piet Mondrian and Vassily Kandinsky amongst others. Continue reading to learn more about the artists, the art and most importantly, the watches.
All watches from the collection are powered by a quartz movement. The watches are also only splash resistant so they should not come in contact with water. Each watch comes in a box decorated with an image of the painting used for inspiration of the model.
Red, Blue and White by Piet Mondrian
Piet Mondrian was a Dutch painter who is best known for being one of the pioneers of abstract art. His art concerned itself with finding universal values and aesthetics. He considered art to be something more than reality, often expressing his belief that art is more connected to the spiritual than the real. Though his art began as figurative and deeply rooted in nature, over time Mondrian transitioned into the abstract style he’s known for. Eventually, he limited himself to only using the primary colours and the primary values. He also limited his composition to only be vertical or horizontal.
Over the years Mondrian became an incredibly influential figure in 20th-century art. To this day his compositions continue to inspire designers and artists around to world with their perceived simplicity. Swatch has chosen his painting Red, Blue and White as inspiration for the watch.
The watch measures 41 mm in diameter and features a black plastic case. Its dial is also black. In the spirit of the painting, the hour and minute hands are rectangular and coloured in red and white, respectively. The strap of the watch is made of black silicone. The painting is integrated into the design through the white, blue and red squares bordered by black lines.
Blue Sky by Vassily Kandinsky
Vassily Kandinsky was born in Moscow in 1866. The artist is said to be one of the earliest trailblazers of the abstract movement, possibly after Hilma af Klint. Kandinsky began his artistic career at 30, fairly late in his life when he gave up a prominent position teaching law to study painting. Throughout his career, the artist found his inspiration in colours, music and the spiritual. He theorised that certain tones correlated to colours and vice versa. Today it’s believed that Kandinsky had a condition called synesthesia, which allows people to taste sound, as well as feel or hear colours.
Kandinsky’s work grew more abstract throughout his life. Eventually, the artist abandoned his earlier inspirations and impressionism in favour of highlighting colours and shapes in his signature abstract works.
The painting chosen for the Swatch x Centre Pompidou watches is Blue Sky. The painting depicts what can be considered figures and/or animals on a blue background. The blue background softens towards the edge of the canvas giving the appearance of clouds and invoking the “sky” image. The figures appear random yet deliberate. In the painting, Kandinsky is manipulating colour and shape in an effort to evoke an emotional reaction from the viewers and affect their psyche.
The Blue Sky watch also measures 41 mm in diameter. The strap and dial are blue. The plastic case of the watch is also blue and slightly transparent. The figures from the painting are featured on both the dial and the strap transforming the watch into a wearable form of art.
The Frame by Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo is a Mexican painter best known for her self-portraits. Her work was inspired by Mexican culture and nature as well as personal experiences. Through her work, Kahlo explores postcolonialism, class, gender and identity. Suffering a bus accident in her youth caused the artist to begin exploring as she was recovering. The accident caused her many medical issues throughout her life, even leaving her bed-bound for a large part of her later life. Due to this a recurring theme throughout her art is pain. A lot of her art is also autobiographical, often mixed with fantastical elements.
The painting chosen to represent Kahlo in the collection is “The Frame”. The painting consists of an upcycled reverse glass painting into which Frida inserted a self-portrait. In contrast to many of the other works, the portrait here is simple, with only a single type of yellow flower decorating her hair. In this painting, the glass painting is used used to frame the portrait. Another stand out quality of this painting is that the artist has chosen her art to enhance the Mexican imagery within the painting instead of using the imagery to enhance her art.
The watch features a 41 mm plastic pink case and pink strap. The pink of the case and strap complement the colours within the painting. The painting is superimposed half onto the strap and half onto the dial. The image is mirrored resulting in the painting featuring twice on the timepiece.
The Carousel by Robert Delaunay
Robert Delaunay is a french artist who co-founded the Orphism art movement with his wife Sonia. The movement, also known as Orphic Cubism, is categorized by its use of colour and geometric shapes. Delaunay was inspired by colours and a love for experimentation. His paintings play around not only with colours but with depth and tone. The artist’s keen interest in colour was evident not only in his artworks but in his writings as well. On his use and theories of colour, he was greatly influenced by scientists. Delaunay believed that colour itself can be the subject of a painting as it had its own power.
Swatch and the Pompidou Centre have chosen two of Robert Delaunay’s works: Carousel of pigs and The Eiffel Tower. The Carousel was painted in 1922. It stands out with its impressive use of vibrant colours and shapes which at first glance reminds the viewer of a kaleidoscope. The 1922 Carousel is a re-imagining of the artist’s first painting from 1906. Placed side by side the paintings clearly illustrate the evolution in Delaunay’s style and his vision. The Carousel shows Delaunay’s mastery of his medium and the deep understanding he has of his goal. The Carousel is seen as one of the cornerstones of the Orphism movement.
The Carousel watch uses to vibrant blue colour from the painting as its base. The 34mm case is translucent blue plastic. The painting is featured on the dial and the strap. Making the watch stand out even further is the clever use of the calendar wheel by Swatch. By turning the wheel changes and adds colour to the design, creating an even more kaleidoscopic experience for the owner of this timepiece.
The Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay
Delaunay’s Eiffel Tower painting is from the artist’s Eiffel Tower series. The series consist of 15 paintings in total, 9 original paintings from 1909 to 1912 and 6 additional works added during the 1920s. The painting used as inspiration during the collaboration on the Swatch x Centre Pompidou watches is one of the two paintings named La Tour Eiffel from 1926. The painting, and the series, is considered one of Delaunay’s most influential paintings. The painting stands out with its powerful geometric colourful shapes. The painting is often used as an example of how the Orphism art movement was developed to add dynamism and colour to Cubism.
The watch inspired by the painting is perhaps one of the more subtle timepieces in the range, alongside the timepiece inspired by Piet Mondrian. The watch is has a light blue translucent plastic case and a light blue silicone strap. The image of the Eiffel Tower is featured on the strap while the dial is left bare, contrasted by gold-coloured hands.
The Portrait of Dédie’ by Amedeo Modigliani
Amadeo Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor born in Livorno, Italy, though he spent most of his life working in France. Modigliani stood out with his refusal to categorise his work. Though Cubism, Dadaism and Surrealism were thriving during his lifetime, the artist refused to submit to one style insisting on being unclassified. His inspiration was mainly African sculpture and the Italian Renaissance. Unfortunately, Amadeo Modigliani became the perfect example of the “tragic artist”. He lived a hedonistic life, filled with affairs and substance abuse. He tragically passed away aged 35 of tubercular meningitis.
Modigliani is known both for his paintings and his sculptures. His fascination with the human form becomes obvious as it is the main subject of many of his works. He is best known for his numerous portraits of women and nude paintings. The portrait chosen by swatch is The Portrait of Dedie. The painting is a great example of the artist’s style. The figure placement, the slight tilt of the head and the melancholich espression of the model Odette Hayden have become steryotypical of Modigliani’s work. The image convays a sadness which is contsrasted by the sweetness of the model’s head tilt. The curved neck portrayed in the image also becomes one of the most distinctive features of the artist’s style.
The figure of Dedie is featured on both the dial and the strap. The gray background is contrasted by a pink transluscent case and buckle. Modigliani’s signature is also featured on the watch, placed on the strap.
What do you think of the Swatch x Centre Pompidou watches? Let us know in the comments below.
