The Brothers Karamazov, by John Latham, Ulster Museum

Today I paid a visit to the Ulster Museum, Belfast.   I thought this composition was very interesting in the way that it connected art and literature.

Observer IV 1960 By John Latham

Information from the Tate:

‘Observer IV' has a triangular composition. The three points forming this structure represent three kinds of 'observing persons' which Latham connects with the three brothers in Dostoevsky's novel 'The Brothers Karamazov'. He interprets the brothers as representing three states of existence and self-awareness. The three points in the work thus correspond with the brothers and, in turn, with the states that the brothers represent. The mass of material on the right relates to Mitya who signifies spontaneous experience and instinct. Mitya is connected by a tube to Ivan at the top of the canvas who signifies an intellectual state capable of observing the Mitya state. The small, wedge shape at bottom left is linked with Aloysha - independent of Mitya and Ivan and signifying a higher reflective level capable of observing the other two. Dostoevsky's novel informed Latham's view of the artist as an 'incidental person' who, like Aloysha, is an independent observer, reflecting and reaching insights through intuition. Latham has commented that the 'Observer' series 'isn't intended as allegory but as geometry (evenometry) of the three basic kinds of person.'

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/latham-observer-iv-t03706