The Poem of the Right Angle (Le poème de l'angle droit) is a series of 19 paintings and corresponding writings composed by the influential Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier between 1947 and 1953 and first published in book format as a limited edition of 250 copies in 1955. Aside from his seminal manifesto Toward an Architecture, The Poem of the Right Angle is considered to be his most lucid synthesis of personal maxims.[1]
The Poem of the Right Angle was composed over a period of seven years, from 1947 to 1953. The paintings are arranged symmetrically in seven rows, or "zones" and read across, in order, 5, 3, 5, 1, 3, 1, 1 such that the entire composition appears top-heavy and cross-like. Corbusier referred to this organization as an iconostase, or iconostasis. Each zone, lettered A-G, is assigned a title and corresponding color. Le Corbusier was very interested in classic themes of alchemy, and each piece, as well as the significance of its placement in the color-coded sets, draws from and illuminates the dialectic of opposites inherent in alchemical processes.[2]
Green is the alchemical symbol of the primal matter of the universe. Le Corbusier uses this zone as a taxonomy of natural cycles.
A.1. Representative of the cyclical nature of the sun
A.2. Representative of the water cycle, an important part of alchemy and "a matrix for a dualistic universal confrontation."[3]
The level establishes where
stops the descent of the waters
to the sea
the sea daughter of droplets
and mother of vapors. And
the horizontal defines
the liquid content.
A.3. Introduces earth symbol, cardinal symbols, and man as procreator. It also is the first passage that directly references the right angle, here as a symbol of life, living and "uprightness".
Upright on the terrestrial plateau
of things perceptible to you
contract with nature a pact of solidarity: it is the right angle
Upright in front of the sea vertical
there you are on your legs.
A.4. Uses figure-ground and heavy contrast to remark on the role of chaos in the divide between the conscious and unconscious
The law of the meander is
active in the thoughts and
enterprises of men forming their
ever renewing avatars
But the trajectory gushes out
from the mind and is projected by
the clairvoyants beyond
confusion
A.5. Very similar to the actual cover of the work, it is split down the middle and the clasped hands signal contradiction and reconciliation of opposites, which Corbusier stated were the only ways to ensure human survival. In a similar painting, the clasped hands symbolize the architect and the engineer working together.
I have thoughts that two hands
and their interlocking fingers
express this right and
this left unrelentingly
unified and so necessary
to reconciliation.
The only possibility of survival
offered to life
This zone represents the links between nature, architecture and the cosmos.
B.2. "Le Modulor" - Corbusier's Modular Man, an iconic illustration of proportion, is juxtaposed with a shell, which Corbusier regarded as an archetypal female form. The shell form also embodies the same proportional values as the Modulor, based on the Golden section.
Its value is in
this: the human body
chosen as admissible
support of numbers...
.....Here is proportion!
B.3. This is an overly architectural frame. Floorplates and a foundation are clearly depicted, and an owl, a classic symbol of wisdom, is clearly visible in the foundation.
Cleared of obstacles better
that before the house of
men mistress of his form
takes up her abode in nature
Complete in herself
making her case on all grounds
open to the four horizons
B.4. Another architectural frame which illuminates the concept of the brise soleil through the sun above and the "secret world" below.
The clock and the solar
calendar brought to
architecture the "brise-soleil"
installed in front of the windows of
modern buildings
Corbusier's tribute to the flesh consists of more complicated figures representing the animal world and all of its creative capacities.
C.1.
Some oxen of burden pass
every day in front of my window.
Because of being designed and redesigned
the ox - of pebble and of root
becomes bull.
C.2.
They are innumerable who
sleep but others know
to open the eye.
Because the profound refuge is
in the great cavern of
sleep that other side of
life in the night.
C.3. This is the centerpiece of the iconostase, which Corbusier dedicated to his wife.
Tenderness!
Shell the Sea has not ceased
to throw us the wreckage of
smiling harmony on the shores.
Hand kneads hand caresses
hand glides. The hand and the
sea love one another.
C.4. The center line is quite overt, which may indicate that the image can also be recognized when turned 90°, a practice Le Corbusier was fond of.
They are but
half, giving to
life only one half
And the second part comes
to them and fuses
And good or bad comes to them
the two
who met!
C.5. The image of a woman's body with a unicorn's head is a motif that is also seen in the mural of Le Corbusier's Swiss Pavilion at the Paris University Campus (C.I.U.P.), as are 3 other plates from the Poeme.
The galley sails
The voices singing on board
As all becomes strange
and is transposed
is transported high
and is reflected on
the plan of happiness
D.3.
Do not overwhelm then he
who wants to take his part of the
risks of life - Let
the metals fuse
tolerate the alchemists who
besides leave you outside
the cause
The ascription of the "clear" color frames this zone, which represents light and will reborn in man.
E.2. The complex image of many women and a horse is achieved through phenomenal transparency and separation of color from line.
The amazons are ready
to leave to go to come back and
to leave again and
to fight combat always
soldier.
The amazons are young
they do not grow old.
E.3. This is the most reproduced image from the series. The motif of the clasped hands seen in A.5. is repeated, along with a crescent face, indicative of the moon.
Categorical
right angle of the character
of the spirit of the heart.
I mirrored myself in this character
and found myself
found at home
found
Horizontal vision in front.
E.4. This image recalls some of Le Corbusier's paintings from the 1930s. It is orthogonal, architectural and labyrinthine.
Will appear I sense it
the splendor of brut concrete
and the grandeur which it will
have had to think the marriage
of lines
to weight the forms
To weight...
F.3. The symbol of the open hand appears as an "offering", and the interior lines and contours reveal traits and hidden characteristics.
It is open since
all is present available
seizable
Open to receive
Open also in order that each
comes there to take
G.3. The presentation of a "tool" is an analogy to the Philosopher's stone, both the solution and the question, thus establishing the cyclical nature of the work.
one has
with a piece of coal
traced the right angle
the sign
It is the response and the guide
the fact
a response
a choice
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