The Beethoven Distortions

"The essence of this portrait series is to demonstrate the subjective and changing distortions of Beethoven's psyche as he struggles with the forging of his symphonic work.

"Only the first painting can be classified as objective. It is a portrait of the totally deaf Beethoven, his eyes half closed, listening as the music in his mind unfolds.

"The six paintings which follow break the barrier of our own confined perspective, allowing the viewer to journey into the mind of the great master as he painfully wrestles to shape the composition of his ninth symphony.

"These seven works must be seen together to understand the intent and the message."

--- Alton S. Tobey

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         If you visited this page, you may be interested in a somewhat remarkable self-portrait that Tobey created some time after completing the Beethoven Distortions. His motivation may have been a comment on the struggle a visual artist also encounters in creating a work of art, or perhaps the frustrations and amusements the painter experiences when dealing with a portrait or mural client whose self-image or expectations exceed the bounds of reality.

Self Portrait

         Tobey was well known to deliver his own particular brand of humor with a completely straight face. It can only be left to the observer to judge what his pesonal intentions may have been in this rendering of his self-portrait.