The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 30, 2026

A vertically oriented geometric oil painting in muted oranges and blues depicts different sizes of rectangles containing simplified symbols and divided by black lines. Left, an anchor points down next to a light-blue and boxy, person-like shape. A clock with roman numeral numbers has hands pointing to VII and XI in the lower center. Central, smaller rectangles contain simplified depictions of a key, star, spiral, and fish. Narrow, vertical rectangles extend between the larger boxes.

Composición Constructiva

1932

Joaquín Torres-García

(Uruguayan, 1874–1949)
Uruguay
oil on canvas
77.9 x 58.1 cm (30 11/16 x 22 7/8 in.)
Purchased with funds from the Severance and Greta Millikin Trust and Sundry Art – Miscellaneous Fund 2025.2
Location: 223 20th Century Avant-Garde

Did You Know?

Joaquín Torres-García repurposed a canvas to make this work of art, painting over one of his previous compositions.

Description

This painting is emblematic of Joaquín Torres-García’s theory of “Universal Constructivism” in which the artist combined European geometric abstraction, as espoused by his friend Piet Mondrian, with ancient and Indigenous South American symbols and iconography that evoked the artist’s native Uruguay. The style that Torres-García borrowed from Mondrian involved building a composition around geometric shapes arranged harmoniously with straight horizontal and vertical lines. The symbols here—the anchor (representing the artist’s transatlantic journeys as well as hope), the snail and fish (references to nature), and clocks (an allusion to the concept of time and its presence in human experience)—frequently appear in the artist’s paintings of the late1920s and early1930s.
  • 1932 or after
    B. Cendros, Barcelona
    1932 or after–?
    Jorge Mara, Madrid
    ?–1996
    Andre Vlasto, Buenos Aires, sold to Rachel Adler Fine Art, New York, NY
    1996
    Rachel Adler Fine Art, New York, NY, sold to Private Collection, Panama
    1996–2025
    Private Collection, Panama, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2025
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Jardí, Enric. Torres Garcia. Boston, Mass.: New York Graphic Society, 1973. Reproduced: p. 184; Mentioned: p. 275, no. 247
    Zea, Leopoldo. América Latina En Sus Ideas. Paris, México, D.F.: Unesco; Siglo Veintiuno Editores, 1986. Reproduced: Cover
    Bozal Fernández, Valeriano. Pintura Y Escultura EspañOlas Del Siglo XX. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1992. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 532-534
    Maslach, Adolfo M. Joaquín Torres-García: Sol Y Luna Del Arcano. Caracas, Venezuela: JTG, 1998. Reproduced: p. 354, no. 207
    Bozal Fernández, Valeriano. Historia de La Pintura y La Escultura Del Siglo XX En España. Boadilla del Monte, Madrid: Antonio Machado Libros, 2013. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 170-171, vol. I
    de Torres, Cecilia, Susanna V. Temkin, Madeline Murphy Turner, and Victoria L. Fedrigotti. "The Catalogue: Painting & Sculpture." In Joaquín Torres-García Catalogue Raisonné. Mentioned and reproduced: Cat. no. 1932.52 ?section=Painting%20Sculpture
    "New on View.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 65, no. 4 (2025): Back cover. Reproduced and Mentioned: Back cover archive.org
  • Magie der Zahl. Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Germany (organizer) (January 2-May 19, 1997).
    Joaquín Torres-García. XXII Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, Brazil (organizer) (October 12-December 10, 1994).
    L'Avantguarda A Catalunya. Galería Dau al Set, Barcelona, Spain (organizer) (March 1985).
    Exposición Antológica Torres-García. Museo Español de Arte Contemporáneo, Madrid (organizer) (April-May 1973); Museo de Arte Moderno, Barcelona, Spain (June 1973).
  • {{cite web|title=Composición Constructiva|url=false|author=Joaquín Torres-García|year=1932|access-date=30 May 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2025.2