Demolition

Demolition

Luc Tuymans
Belgian, born 1958
2005
Demolition is an oil-on-canvas painting in which Luc Tuymans renders a close-up, almost abstract study of crumbled forms and dust to evoke the aftermath of destruction.
Its low-contrast, desaturated surface—thin washes of gray, beige and mauve—reads like a faded photograph, making the viewer strain to distinguish shapes and feel the hush of distance and loss.
Tuymans’s hushed, washed-out approach reframes images of devastation as fragile, mediated memories, advancing contemporary painting’s interrogation of how mass imagery and history shape our perception of violence.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
65 x 44 1/2" (165.1 x 113 cm)
Classification
Credit
Gift of Leonard and Susan Feinstein
Accession
215.2006
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
View on moma.org

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