Early Color Charts:
a viewing room
Siri Berg was renowned for her decades-long study of color. Her mature work presents a complexity and nuanced approach to applied principles of relativity, intensity, and temperature–not to mention the psychosocial expression inherent in the experience of color. While her mature work has been widely exhibited, her earliest work remains completely unknown.
A native of Stockholm, Sweden, Siri Berg was born in 1921. While attending the German Gymnasium and Victoria College in Prague she took life drawing classes at the Rotter-Schule für Werbegrafik. She then entered The Institute of Art and Architecture at the University of Brussels before immigrating to the United States at the age of 19. Siri worked briefly in interior design until she began pursuing her true passion—painting and color.
Presented here publicly for the first time is a selection of early color compositions. The inspiration for these works combines the graceful clarity of Swedish craftsmanship with the clean lines of modern design. These works harken back to her earliest experiments in color and introduce a sophisticated yet playful compositional approach. Several works introduce a Surrealist-like space not so unlike the work of Victor Brauner and Paul Klee.
Untitled (Color Chart/Comparisons), c.1968
Oil and graphite on paper
16 x 20 in (40.6 x 50.8 cm)
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Untitled (Color Chart / Values), c.1968
Oil and graphite on paper
20 x 16 in (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
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Siri Berg made her mark as an expert in color and form during her lifetime as an artist, undeterred by gender norms for female artists permeating the decades of her career. She infused aspects of spirituality, technology, mathematics, and sometimes taboo social mores into her rigorous and equilibrial artworks.
Untitled (Color Chart / Textures), c.1968
Oil on paper
15.5 x 20 in (39.4 x 50.8 cm)
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Untitled (Color Chart/Comparisons), c.1968
Oil on paper
16 x 20 in (40.6 x 50.8 cm)
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Siri Berg (left) visiting The Palais de Versailles while studying at The Institute of Art and Architecture at the University of Brussels before immigrating to the United States at the age of 19.
Near Relatives Used as Minor Accents, c.1968
Acrylic on paper
16 x 12.5 in (40.6 x 31.8 cm)
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Untitled (Color Chart / Textures), c.1968
Oil on paper
15.5 x 20 in (39.4 x 50.8 cm)
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Siri Berg went beyond the traditional elements of pure color by experimenting with the mixing and invention of her own colors, textures, and the contrasts of lightness and darkness in her works.
