Joseph Stella

Tree of My Life

A jewel-toned nebula of flora and fauna swirls and climbs, enveloping an ancient, twisted tree. Joseph Stella describes the conception of Tree of My Life as an epiphany.

“A new light broke over me,” he wrote. “I found myself in the midst of a joyous singing and delicious scent ... of birds and flowers ready to celebrate the baptism of my new art.”

Stella’s earlier painting was defined by the influences of Cubism, Fauvism, and, most prominently, Italian Futurism. Tree of My Life, however, merges European modes with an intricate lyricism that infuses forms and colors with symbolic significance. Stella’s gnarled trunk represents the weathering effect of life’s temptations, while vermillion lilies, blue patches of sky, and snowy blossoms symbolize life-blood, divine protection, and spiritual ascendance.

By combining this dense visual poetry with traces of European avant-garde aesthetics, Tree of My Life presents a distinctive new vision, marking an important moment in the trajectory of Stella’s career and in the progress of American modernism.