Paintings Based on Atomic Spectra: ‘Quantum Realism’

Leonardo, Vol. 7, pp. 53--55. Pergamon Press 1974. Printed in Great Britain PAINTINGS BASED ON ATOMIC SPECTRA: 'QUANTUM REALISM' M. Sabri* range from violet to red. The range of violets can be denoted by 3800-4300 angstrom units. Those of other colors are given in Table I, along with their corresponding energies. A continuous visible spectrum would contain all the wavelengths between 3800-7800angstrom units. In Tables II and III some of the visible spectral TABLE I. CONTINUOUS VISIBLE SPECTRUM 1. For centuries man has been accustomed to think of matter in terms of solid mass and to regard nature about him in terms of objects having form. Einstein in the early years of this century introduced the concept of the equivalence of mass and energy, a concept that has since been verified by experiment. Furthermore, modern science has permitted a thorough investigation of the structure of matter and the processes of change occurring in matter along with the release or consumption of energy. Thus a better understanding of nature has led to the consideration of matter not only in terms of mass and of the external form of objects but also in terms of its internal energy processes and structure. I have endeavored to represent the energy and structural aspect of matter in paintings. I decided to use as a code both molecular compositions and energy quantities, the latter being obtainable from the spectral information available for atoms. Colour Violet Blue Blue-green Green Yellow-green Yellow Orange Red Wavelength (angstrom units) 380Q-43oo 430Q-47oo 4700-5000 5000-5400 5400-5600 5600-5950 5950-6200 6200-7800 Energy (ergs) x 1012 5·22-4·62 4-62-4'22 4'22-3-97 3-97-3-68 3-68-3'54 3·54-3-34 3-34-3·20 3-20-2'54 2. TABLE II. SELECTED SPECTRAL LINES OF HYDROGEN TABLE III. SELECTED SPECTRAL LINES OF OXYGEN The visible spectrum produced by an atomic species under high temperature conditions (that is, the atomic spectrum) is in the form of a series of bright lines called an emission-line spectrum. The visible spectrum produced when a beam of sunlight is passed through a prism is essentially a continuous spectrum; it is identical to the continuous series of colors in the rainbow, from violet to red. The emission-line spectrum of an atom, say iron, is a specificseries of colored lines, not the whole gamut of colors as in a continuous spectrum. Each color in an atomic spectrum is identified by a specific wavelength, or frequency, of light energy. The wavelength, or frequency, can in turn be related to a specific quantity of energy. I propose to use these relationships in the composition of paintings. The human eye can perceive radiation having wavelengthswithin the range 3800to 7800angstrom units. The stimulus received corresponds to the ... Artist living at Raffaelova 1990/3, Prague 10-1‫סס‬OO, Czechoslovakia. (Received 15 February 1973.) 53 Colour Red Red Blue-green Blue Violet Colour Magenta-red Magenta-red Magenta-red Red Orange Green Blue Wavelength (angstrom units) 6562 6562 4861 4340 4101 Wavelength (angstrom units) 7775 7774 7771 6456 6158 5330 4368 Energy (ergs) x 1012 3·01 3·01 4·07 4'56 4·82 19·47 (total) Energy (ergs) x 1012 2·54 2'54 2'54 3·06 3·21 3'71 4'53 22·13 (total) 54 M. Sabri lines (identified by wavelength [1] and energy) are given that consider representative of hydrogen and oxygen. The lines presented are my choices of those that are the most prominent. 3. The type of painting based on the idea above I call 'Quantum Realism', or simply 'QR'. The basis of QR paintings is visible light at specific energy levels, which is perceived as color. The unit of structure in a QR painting is the atom. There are 89 chemically different elements in nature (such as hydrogen, oxygen, iron etc.) each of which is represented by at least one different atom. As I mentioned above, the paintings I make are in a code related to molecular composition and spectral energy quantities. Individual molecules of a given species are composed of atoms of specific...