Saint-Sulpice Station, Line 4 — Acrylic on Linen Canvas by Arnaud Quercy

About This Artwork

What happens when eleven seconds of a train pulling into Saint-Sulpice station are asked to hold a chord?

A rule fixed in advance answers G, and the four classes it ranks highest — G, B♭, D, F♯ — are exactly the four notes of a G minor-major seventh. The chord is read within the ranking, not beside it. A second rule assigns each pitch its colour, and the canvas executes both to the end.

Nothing goes from the sound to the painting. Two domains that nothing brings together are bound by a rule that was posed, and what appears on the canvas is what that rule produces. What remains is the gap between the rule and its execution: it belongs to the work.