Laser

Laser (1971) from the Mu.ZEE collection is a colourful painting, of which the composition is determined by a tri-coloured (red, yellow and blue) diagonal. Verheyen called the diagonal an ‘Eon’ or ‘Laser’ (hence the title of the work), being such a strong beam of light that races through the universe with enormous velocity and reflects the colours. (Verheyen had taken the idea of such a beam of light from a laboratory experiment that the had witnessed in the German Ruhr region.) The artist painted the surface of the image around the diagonal in iridised planes of colour, consisting of yellow and red tints. With paintings such as Laser, Verheyen attempted to find a way to render light in his work.