The Lips

Cardboard relief, painted

40 x 42.5 cm

Appearing as if from nowhere, the massive yellow lips hover directly towards us. To right and left, dark green areas arranged diagonally frame the white background. They heighten the impression of movement and increase the feeling of infinite spatial depth. The thought occurs that here we are looking at a work of Pop Art or of Nouveau Réalisme. But the flat cardboard relief was created back in 1926 and demonstrates Arp's brief period of focus on the representation of figural elements during the time in the 1920s when he was in close contact with the Surrealists in Paris.