Flame‑red field Symbolism

Color as atmosphere and emotion—heat, compression, and heightened intimacy that fuses figures with their setting.

Common Themes

Erotic desireMimesis vs. abstraction (truth vs. artifice)Medium reflexivity (art about art)Everyday life as art (readymade, the ordinary)Gender & sexualityClass & inequalityLabor & work

Artworks Featuring This Symbol

Combing the Hair by Edgar Degas

Combing the Hair

Edgar Degas (c.1896)

Edgar Degas’s Combing the Hair crystallizes a private ritual into a scene of <strong>compressed intimacy</strong> and <strong>classed labor</strong>. The incandescent field of red fuses figure and room, turning the hair into a <strong>binding ribbon</strong> between attendant and sitter <sup>[1]</sup>.