Giacomo Balla, "The Spell is Broken"

Giacomo Balla, The Spell is Broken, c.1922; location unknown.

It's very difficult to find a high-resolution photo that accurately depicts this work by Giacomo Balla, and it's rarely been seen in public. The brightened, neon-colored reproduction shown at the bottom of this page is the most commonly used version, but it's clearly an altered, reimagined interpretation. The accuracy of the image above — actually a modern copy — is verified by a 2014 article about a Futurist exhibit at the Guggenheim (their photo was too small to be useful here), and is also confirmed by text from a black and white catalog of Futurist works: "The color tones range from white to pale pink, and to a brilliant shocking pink." The popular altered copy below, which doesn't contain any white or pale pink, doesn't match the description.

If a good first-hand photo isn't available for a particular artwork, the second best option is to find a reproduction that reflects known facts — or as here, a small, confirmed snapshot — as closely as possible.

Altered version of a painting by Giacomo Balla.