Db Major - Variations 16 — Acrylic on Linen Canvas by Arnaud Quercy

About This Artwork

Db Major - Research on Harmony - Variations 16 translates a short piano étude into color. Arnaud Quercy builds the painting from a single voicing of the D-flat major chord. The notes spread across the full keyboard, from the lowest D-flat up to a high F. Each chord tone becomes a color family: blue-green toward black, red-violet toward red, and blue toward blue-violet. Orange accents mark tensions that sit outside the chord. The work is the fifteenth variation in the Db Major series, within the Harmonic Crossing collection.

A tall band of pale lilac fills the left side of the canvas from top to bottom. A faint pencil line crosses it horizontally in the upper half. To the right, a slate-blue block occupies the upper part of the canvas. Deep blue-grey fills the right edge and the lower right corner. The lower center holds a salmon-coral panel, the largest warm area in the composition. Where lilac, blue and coral meet, the artist sets a cluster of small shapes. A narrow crimson rectangle sits beside a white quarter-circle. Beneath them, a pale stone-colored half-disc curves into the coral field. Thin pencil contours outline each shape, and a long diagonal line cuts across the coral panel. The acrylic lies flat, letting the weave of the linen show through.

The painting measures fifty-five centimeters high by forty-six centimeters wide, with a depth of two centimeters. It weighs approximately six hundred grams. Arnaud Quercy made it in acrylic on linen canvas in 2026, at his Rue du Dragon studio in Paris. It belongs to the Harmonic Crossing collection, an ongoing practice of turning harmonic relationships into visual form. Each variation in the collection works as a direct study of one chord's essential character. The artist signed it on the back. It carries certificate of authenticity number 20260926-0153 and is catalogued as AQC1101.

The étude behind the painting is marked Animé, meaning lively and moving forward. It is played mezzo-piano, at a gentle volume, and legato, with each note flowing into the next. Written in four, it keeps a steady, even pulse. The line drops to the lowest D-flat before climbing back, tracing a valley shape. The work is currently available.