Genèse d’un Carré Magique (Genesis of a Magic Square)

Basic Information

Title: Genèse d’un Carré Magique (Genesis of a Magic Square)
Artist(s): Vera Molnar
Date Created: 2015
Edition Info: 10/12
Unframed Dimensions: 13 x 78.75 in.
Medium:
Inventory ID: Molnar-2015-03

Description

signed on the reverse in ink

“An engraving dated 1514 by Dürer: “Melancholy”, gives a representation of the magic square that Vera Molnar discovered in her youth. Composed of numbers from 1 to 16 arranged in 4 rows and 4 columns, the particularity of the magic square is that the sum of the rows, columns and diagonals always results in: 34.

Since then, the artist has never ceased in his artistic practice to question this mysterious object, to play with it. She thus tries to reveal the innumerable surprises that it reserves for those who seek to unravel its mystery.

Genesis of the magic square is a tribute to Dürer, 500 years after the publication of his engraving. The 16 numbers are linked together in a precise sequence, each step linking a number to its next: the first to the second, then the first to the second and to the third, etc. until the connection from the first to the sixteenth.

In this sequence, the artist brings two variants: at each stage, the drawing that is born is shifted by 45° and the lines of the drawing gradually become thinner.

The magic square has not finished revealing its mysteries!”
– Bernard Chauveau Gallery

 

Detail images of the work

More Artworks By Vera Molnar

AD.VM.AV.IA – 13

Created in 2023 by Vera Molnar, aurèce vettier

signed and numbered 3/4 lower right in graphite AD.VM.AV.IA, on the other side of the polyhedron (1514-2023) Collaboration between Vera Molnár and aurèce vettier Text and curation by Vincent Baby Based on a detail -the representation of a polyhedron- from Albrecht Dürer’s engraving Melencholia (1514), Vera Molnár and aurèce vettier have imagined an installation assisted […]


Themes and Variations

Created in 2023 by Vera Molnar, Martin Grasser

an artist book collaboration with Vera Molnar and Martin Grasser. signed, dated, and dedicated “to Michael and Anne” on the inside cover printed, published, and copyrighted by Sotheby’s justification text from the inside cover of the book: “Themes and Variations by Vera Molnar encompasses a collection of 500 unique generative artworks. Within these works Molnar […]


Untitled (Structure of the Quadrilateral)

Created in 1985 by Vera Molnar

no visible signature inscription in French printed in plotter ink: “Madame Janine Mayer, Nous sommes honores de saisir l’occasion de cette journee du 31 mai, 1985 por vous adresser cette oeuvre concue et executee par ordinateur. en Sorbonne, F. Molnar et le C.R.E.I.A.V.” inscription translated to English: “Mrs. Janine Mayer, We are honored to seize […]