I Saw the Figure Five in Gold

Charles Demuth's I Saw the Figure Fice in Gold isn't just an interesting hypnotic painting, it's an hommage to a friend. It's a faceless portrait; a portrait of his friend, William Carlos Williams.
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[@jeff__w]

There are actually _four_ fives in the painting. Each five touches the next larger one in exactly the same way and the largest full five touches a yet bigger one-we see just a small arc of the bowl of the largest five in the upper right.

[@GrantTarredus]

Oh, yes! Excellent! Thank you!

[@lesliestewart8568]

This is an amazing video. I'm going to use it to introduce this artist to my 5th and 6th graders. Thank you for your contribution to the art world!

[@DigitalAndInnovation]

My favorite painting at the MET- I didn't realize the story (I had at one point may have heard someone associate it with a train) but didn't really have context. The other thing about this one is it is a lot larger than you would think just seeing a depiction of it- It is not massive... but when I walked past it- I SAW the figure 5, in gold!

[@MarkMeIIow]

Dude why don't you have more views and subs, this stuff is so interesting and i can tell a lot of research goes into these videos keep it up!

[@jeff__w]

Over 50 years ago, on a school trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I bought a postcard of this painting. I don’t even recall seeing the original (I think I didn’t)-I just liked the striking gold and red against the monochrome background and the various diagonals with the different aspects of the colors. I had no idea that it represented a fire engine receding into the distance. I still have the postcard and like the image as much as (or, maybe even more than) when I bought it. I’m glad to see a video about the painting here.

[@Perspectivist]

I love this channel

[@GloriaStevenson]

Great video, thank you for the content.

[@GrantTarredus]

Thank you so much for teaching me all you have, and particularly in the case of this video. I’ve been curious about this gorgeous and compelling painting for years.

[@obedwiafe3651]

Who is watching just for school?

[@antoniogiuseppealemanno2517]

me

[@obedwiafe3651]

Ok

[@seanw159]

My initial thought was that it makes me think of an Art Deco magazine cover

[@mastazy1]

Your comment on a Nerd writer video brought me here! I have been looking for a channel with content like this since so long! Keep up the good work!

[@GasStationMan]

You should do a video on Saturn Devouring His Son Painting by Francisco Goya. It’s my favorite of his black paintings, Nerdwriter1 did a video on it (and it’s very good you should watch it) but I want to see how you analyze it.

[@biitterblue_m]

Dude, your profile pic scared me 😂