The "Shadow of the Object"
Synthetic Cubism as Neural Birth
Synthetic Cubism represents a radical neurological departure from mere imitation; its aim was to create entirely new forms that do not necessarily exist in nature. For artists like Picasso and Malevich, objective nature was merely a "starting point" for a "non-objective sensation". From a neuroaesthetic perspective, these "new realities" are actually "pre-existing ideas" stored within the brain's architecture. Gleizes and Metzinger noted that discerning a form is an act of "verifying a pre-existing idea" within us. When we look at the intersecting lines and "rectangular oppositions" of a Mondrian, we aren't seeing a "puzzling art" but rather stimuli that are perfectly tailored to the physiology of our orientation-selective neurons. These "neutral forms" bypass the specific details of the external world to tap directly into the "Hegelian Concept"—the brain’s accumulated treasure of essential qualities. In this way, Synthetic Cubism "snatches the eternal from the desperately fleeting," making real on canvas the very "path followed by the brain" in materializing its internal dreams and absolute values.
