Gheorghe Virtosu is a primary master of the abstract art movement and school. From the perception of viewer who has not engaged with abstract art, Virtosu extended beyond it and challenged its limits. Gheorghe Virtosu’s 2017 abstract painting “Mourning Quasimodo” is a play in color, contrast, and chaos that creates an abstract form with a just barely perceptible figure of its namesake. Quasimodo is the fictional protagonist—the hunchback—from Victor Hugo’s book The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In the novel, Esmeralda, who Quasimodo is deeply in love with, is hanged for a murder she did not commit, and Quasimodo goes to the cemetery and mourns her corpse until he dies of starvation.
In Virtosu’s abstract art, Quasimodo’s twisted form is depicted with an almost completely abstract shape, with misshapen appendages jutting out, some of them curved, and some of them with straight lines forming a sharp point. His head is depicted by one of the larger curved appendages, with a large bright yellow dot on it. There is a similarly sized blue dot on the other end of the form, which may depict the head of Esmeralda. However, there is no clearly distinguishable break between Quasimodo and Esmeralda, which may suggest how inseparable and unified they are in their love, despite Quasimodo’s physical unattractiveness. Against the blackness which forms the base of this figure are thin shapes in every color and form imaginable, which seem to emanate from the jutting forms of the appendages.
The form of Quasimodo (and perhaps Esmerelda’s corpose) lies against a mostly grey background that is formed by broad, chaotic brushstrokes of paint. Multiple colors and shades are used within each brushstroke, predominantly greys, blacks, and whites, but other colors, such as blues, yellows, and purples are also used. They are applied mostly at a diagonal angle (upward to the right), but are not all applied at the same angle, which reflects the disorder and dispair in Quasimodo’s heart.
The viewer may reflect upon it and arrive at a completely different interpretation. This is both the wealth and the power of abstract painting; it makes room for subjective interpretations.