Seeking an answer to the broader question as to how painting could possibly move forward in the second half of the 20th century, Rainer initially concluded that it was necessary to delve into the realm of the subconscious, following in the footsteps of the Surrealists. To give this new beginning a real chance, he believed that a state of dissolution needed to be initiated. As Rainer put it, this would culminate in a “tabula rasa”—his so-called “Auflösungen” (Dissolutions). These dissolved, atomized forms allowed him to start anew, to be covered and erased. The purification of the pictorial subject through the artist’s intervention became his central theme. Alongside the “Proportionen” (Proportions) and “Blindzeichnungen” (Blind Drawings), Rainer’s first black paintings emerged in the mid-1950s, such as the present work, which he, like many of his paintings, revised over and over again: “I wanted an expansive darkness, an almost hermetically sealed black image. De-expression, permanent concealment, and contemplative stillness are the principles of my works between 1953 and 1965”, says the artist. Between 1953 and 1959, Arnulf Rainer had his studio in his parents’ abandoned villa in Lower Austria, where he created his so-called “Reduktionen” (Reductions): “a group of works consisting of austere monochromatic black paintings with linear-geometrically delineated white remnants, which are regarded as a precursor to the overpaintings.” (www.arnulf-rainer-museum.at).
Arnulf Rainer covers the original painting in many stages, a process that can take several years. “I was driven by my permanent dissatisfaction with the current black form, with the imperfection of the surface I had developed up to that point. Sometimes I was overcome by despair; I feared I would lose the painting’s message entirely. [...] When I reach such a point, I set the entire series aside for a few weeks. Afterward, I see through the weaknesses more easily, correct them more decisively, and even see very clearly.” (A. Rainer, Reste. Zugemalte Übermalungen 1953–1978, Stuttgart 1978, p. 3). In doing so, it was important to him not to lose sight of the message. Overpaintings, such as ours, which only leave a minimal margin unpainted, are not the result of gestural, spontaneous painting, but rather the outcome of a long, carefully considered process. Ultimately, for Arnulf Rainer, “The ideal for me is the completely dark painting that is filled with an overwhelming silence.” (A. Rainer, 1978)