Red Is Beautiful

Art Gallery of Ontario

Robert Houle. Red is Beautiful, 1970. Acrylic on canvas, 45.5 x 61 cm. Canadian Museum of History, V-F-174 © Robert Houle Trapezoids, flat shapes that look like upside down triangles that have their tops sliced off parallel to their bottoms with sloping sides, fill the rectangular canvas in tones of pink and red. Sitting with the longest side on top of the canvas, four trapezoids increasing in size are layered one on top of the other. The shapes transition from a small deep red trapezoid in the centre and radiate out to bright red, warm pink, and light pink as the shapes get bigger pointing towards the centre of the canvas. Houle mirrors the stacked trapezoids on the top and the bottom of the canvas. The other four layered trapezoids have their longest side on the bottom of the canvas and radiate out in the same colours pointing to the centre of the painting. The mirrored images sit on a deep red background, the same tone as the small central trapezoids. R. Houle, the artist’s signature, and the date, 1970, are painted in the lower right corner of the canvas. Robert Houle was very inspired by abstract geometric forms.