{"data":{"id":"2968","type":"artwork","attributes":{"id":2968,"topgoose_id":4552,"portfolio_id":null,"tms_id":2968,"title":"The Brooklyn Bridge: Variation on an Old Theme","display_artist_text":"Joseph Stella","display_date":"1939","accession_number":"42.15","dimensions":"Overall: 70 1/4 × 42 3/16 in. (178.4 × 107.2 cm)","medium":"Oil on canvas","department":"collection","classification":"Paintings","credit_line":"Purchase","is_virtual":false,"is_portfolio":false,"portfolio_tms_id":null,"portfolio":null,"edition":null,"publication_info":"","description":"\u003cp\u003eJoseph Stella, \u003cem\u003eThe Brooklyn Bridge: Variation on an Old Theme\u003c/em\u003e, 1939. Oil on canvas, overall: 70 1/4 × 42 3/16 in. (178.4 × 107.2 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase 42.15\u003c/p\u003e","object_label":"\u003cp\u003eTo Italian-born Joseph Stella, who immigrated to New York at the age of nineteen, New York City was a nexus of frenetic, form-shattering power. In the engineering marvel of the Brooklyn Bridge, which he first depicted in 1918 and returned to throughout his career, he found a contemporary technological monument that embodied the modern human spirit. Here, Stella portrays the bridge with a linear dynamism borrowed from Italian Futurism. He captures the dizzying height and awesome scale of the bridge from a series of fractured perspectives, combining dramatic views of radiating cables, stone masonry, cityscapes, and night sky. The large scale of the work—it is nearly six feet tall—conjures a Renaissance altar, while the Gothic style of the massive pointed arches evokes medieval churches. By combining contemporary architecture and historical allusions, Stella transformed the Brooklyn Bridge into a twentieth-century symbol of divinity, the quintessence of modern life and the Machine Age. \u003c/p\u003e","ai_alt_text":"A stylized bridge with blue cables frames a futuristic city skyline with lit buildings and arches.","alt_text":null,"visual_description":null,"on_view":true,"created_at":"2017-08-30T15:51:16.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-02-06T11:59:46.868-05:00","images":[{"id":94796,"url":"https://whitneymedia.org/assets/artwork/2968/42_15_cropped.jpg"}]},"relationships":{"artists":{"data":[{"id":"1281","type":"artist"}]}}}}