Rethinking the Image

Image source: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/severini-suburban-train-arriving-in-paris-t01070 (Accessed: 20 December 2025). © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London

Gino Severini, Suburban Train Arriving in Paris (1915), London, Tate Britain, 88.6 cm x 115.6 cm, oil on canvas.

Futurism was an early-20th century artistic and cultural movement, launched by Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti^[1]. In the first Futurist manifesto of 1909, Marinetti set out to liberate Italian culture from the conventions and constraints of the past through a revolutionary and incendiary ideology which venerated speed, energy, technology, and war^[1][2].

The output of Futurism was varied and extensive^[3], but the movement is best known today for its artistic contributions, with Futurist artists such as Giacomo Balla, Gino Severini, and Umberto Boccioni producing some of the most striking images in modern art. Despite this, the movement has long since been absent from many modern art narratives, its reputation soured by its long-standing, albeit often unsteady, association with Fascism^[4].

In the United Kingdom, it is the Vorticism movement – which existed in parallel with Futurism – that is more widely acknowledged. Vorticism reflected similar themes to Futurism, but in a way that was contemplative rather than celebratory^[5] – perhaps reflecting national sensibilities as well as ideological differences^[6].

There is, however, a place in the UK where Futurist art is prominently represented. Located in an attractive but unassuming Georgian building in a leafy corner of Islington, North London, is the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art – the only museum in Britain to be dedicated to the subject – housing a fascinating collection of Futurist art from the movement’s early period (1909-16)^[7].

Figure 1: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/severini-suburban-train-arriving-in-paris-t01070 (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

My journey begins, however, at the Tate Britain, where I’m standing in front of Gino Severini’s Suburban Train Arriving in Paris (figure 1). In this painting, geometric planes of colour, representing parts of buildings and fragments of the landscape, are separated by large clouds of steam. In the centre of the image, a pair of arrow-shaped forms indicate forward motion, leading the viewer towards the train’s chimney.

There is something of an intentional delay within the painting, with the train itself, mostly hidden under the mass of overlapping shapes, being its most discrete element. Here, the focus is not on representing the appearance of the train, but on conveying the force that it exerts on its environment through its speed and energy.

Figure 2: https://www.estorickcollection.com/the-collection/the-hand-of-the-violinist-1912 (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

Although the Futurists are known for their interest in machines, they also conveyed energy and momentum through living subjects. In one of the Estorick Collection’s intimate galleries, I’m delighted to see Giacomo Balla’s The Hand of the Violinist (figure 2) – an early Futurist masterpiece which, taking inspiration from 19th-century Chronophotography, conveys a sense of motion by depicting the violinist’s hand in a range of positions^[8].

Balla takes a precise and economical approach in communicating the violinist’s movement, with their hand represented exclusively by thin lines of pure colour in varying configurations. The result is that the hand appears almost transparent, indicating the speed of the violinist’s technique and suggesting a hypnotic blur of perfectly choreographed gestures.

Having previously only seen The Hand of the Violinist in reproduction, I’m amused to discover that the work is, in fact, three-dimensional – the white and black portions form part of its frame, constructed from many separate parts to mirror the subject’s formal attire^[8].

Figure 3: https://www.estorickcollection.com/the-collection/dancer-ballerini-sea-1913 (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

Hanging opposite Balla’s masterpiece is Dancer (Ballerini + Sea) (figure 3), a large work on paper by Gino Severini, which expresses similar concepts of movement and dynamism through strikingly different means. In this work, the elegant pirouette of a ballerina is depicted through a masterly coordination of tubular, triangular, and circular forms which are, paradoxically, both separate and inextricable.

Figure 4: https://www.estorickcollection.com/the-collection/plastic-dynamism-horse-houses-1914 (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

Meanwhile, in another room of the Estorick Collection, Umberto Boccioni’s Plastic Dynamism, Horse + Houses (figure 4) features an intriguing arrangement of shapes which arguably comes even closer to total abstraction, with the powerful forward motion of the horse being subtly revealed through the loose forms that suggest its hooves and legs.

Figure 5: https://www.estorickcollection.com/the-collection/portrait-of-mlle-suzanne-meryen-of-the-varietes-1913 (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

Gino Severini’s Portrait of Mlle Suzanne Meryen of the Variétés (figure 5) is somewhat calmer in mood, but no less daring in execution. In this work, the subject’s key facial features are outlined, with the marks in the top-right suggesting an elaborate piece of feathered headwear, but otherwise, the work is a symphony of echoing circles and edges. Here, it is perhaps not the energy behind the subject’s movement, but the energy of their character, that is expressed.

Figure 6: https://www.estorickcollection.com/the-collection/dynamism-of-a-cyclist-1913 (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

Rounding out my trip to the Estorick Collection is Umberto Boccioni’s Dynamism of a Cyclist (figure 6) – a preparatory sketch for a painting of the same name^[9]. Here, echoing shapes and “force lines”^[10] suggest a racing cyclist pushing through the air at high speed, providing an interesting insight into the Futurists’ working processes. The final painting, currently housed in the Museo del Novecento in Milan, retains the basic form of the cyclist but displays a much greater degree of abstraction^[11].

By rejecting literal depiction in favour of innovative methods of representation which befitted their forward-looking ideology, Futurist artists were not limited to portraying the physical appearance of their subjects – they were also able to express their energy and movement in varied and often surprising ways. Although Futurism is far from the most celebrated movement in the history of modern art, its unique approach reverberates through these early works, which still possess a potent immediacy.

[1] Tate (no date) Futurism. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/f/futurism (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

[2] Chamberlain, L. (2014) Foreword in Marinetti, F. T. The Futurist Cookbook. Translated from Italian by Suzanne Brill. London: Penguin (originally published by Bedford Arts 1989), pp. 239-241.

[3] Chamberlain, L. (2014), pp. 241-243.

[4] Chamberlain, L. (2014) pp. 246-249.

[5] Tate (no date) Abstract Composition. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dismorr-abstract-composition-t01084 (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

[6] Tate (no date) Vorticism. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/v/vorticism (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

[7] Estorick Collection (no date)The Collection. Available at: https://www.estorickcollection.com/the-collection (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

[8] Estorick Collection (no date) The Hand of the Violinist, 1912. Available at: https://www.estorickcollection.com/the-collection/the-hand-of-the-violinist-1912#0 (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

[9] Estorick Collection (no date) Dynamism of a Cyclist, 1913. Available at: https://www.estorickcollection.com/the-collection/dynamism-of-a-cyclist-1913 (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

[10] McKever, R. (2016) Umberto Boccioni (1882–1916). Available at: https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/umberto-boccioni-1882-1916 (Accessed: 20 December 2025).

[11] Imam, J. (2021) How a Milan Museum Won the Battle to Show the World’s Most Important Private Collection of Futurist Art. Available at: https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2021/11/22/milan-museum-wins-battle-to-show-great-futurist-collection (Accessed: 20 December 2025).