The question of this degree project is to investigate whether it is possible to convert one art form to another. The thesis has been about converting the art of painting into music. French post-impressionism has been transformed into contemporary chamber music.

Setup

The degree project “Toner i dubbel bemärkelse” (Tones in two Senses) is about the saxophonist and clarinettist Robert Nevén’s research on his experiences with synaesthesia, and how this has inspired him to compose music for an ensemble consisting of both improvisational and classical musicians.

Synaesthesia is a neurological condition where one sensory impression triggers another. A common form of synaesthesia is when reading certain letters and/or numbers makes the synaesthete perceive specific colours. The person in question either sees the colour in front of the eyes, or imagines it in the head.

Implementation

Nevén believes he experiences synaesthesia to a certain extent, and in his case, it is as follows: Often when he plays a certain note it triggers the visual cortex so that he thinks of a specific colour. This has led to the idea of taking this the other way around for compositional inspiration purposes:

Nevén has extracted the colours from five paintings of French post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin, turned these colours into the musical pitches he associates them with, and written one composition for each painting’s tone material respectively.

The five paintings are:

1. Blue Trees

2. Spirit of the Dead Watching (Manaò tupapaú)

3. Redheaded Woman and Sunflowers

4. The Loss of Virginity (Awakening of Spring)

5. The Sorcerer of Hiva Oa (Marquesan Man in the Red Cape)

In one composition, the musical form and instrumentation are derived directly from the painting. In others, the tone material is assembled more freely based upon different compositional concepts.

The music was presented in concert at The Royal College of Music in Stockholm at March 20^th, 2018.

Conclusion

The conversion of paintings to music is possible, but it requires a format so that the result faithfully follows the original. In this case, the format consisted of keeping the composition within the framework of a painting’s given tone material as much as possible.