1. Marsden Hartley, Painting, Number 5, 1914–15
![Marsden Hartley, Painting, Number 5, 1914–15 Marsden Hartley, Painting, Number 5, 1914–15](https://media.timeout.com/images/103236541/750/422/image.jpg)
![Marsden Hartley, Painting, Number 5, 1914–15 Marsden Hartley, Painting, Number 5, 1914–15](https://media.timeout.com/images/103236541/750/562/image.jpg)
Hartley was a key figure in early American modernism, his work arguably an expression of something like queer aesthetics avant la lettre. This painting is one of several inspired by Hartley’s infatuation with a young German army officer he met while living in Berlin during the lead-up to World War I. It’s also a document of the artist being swept up in the pomp and spectacle of Prussian militarism as Germany girded itself for war. Hartley translates all of these feelings into an abstracted language that balances Eros and poetry, transforming ribbons, medals and insignia into a controlled riot of bold, boisterous color.
Photograph: Courtesy Whitney Museum of American Art