AQC0696 | NAN-CTX000078

Nanopublication — Chromesthetic Translation of C Major — Étude with Harmonic Movement to G7sus

C Major - Research on Harmony - Variation 1

Claim 1: Chromesthetic Translation of C Major — Étude with Harmonic Movement to G7sus

I translate the C Major [1] triad through chromesthetic association — red for C, yellow for E, red-orange for G — following my circle of fifths color mapping. This is an étude: a direct, unadorned study of a single harmonic structure. The spread voicing principle organizes the composition: rather than clustering the three chord tones together, I distribute them across distinct spatial zones of the canvas, the way an open voicing separates the chord tones across the keyboard. The red (C) anchors the lower zone as a saturated field; the red-orange (G) opens broadly across the upper register; the yellow (E) appears as precise, contained accents within the central geometric cluster. The dark geometric forms between them — the near-blacks, deep maroons, browns — are not chord tones but the resonant body of the voicing, the weight that connects the spread pitches across the registral distance. The painting also carries a harmonic inflection beyond the tonic triad. A shift toward G7sus introduces orange (D) and deepens the red-orange field (G), moving the color temperature slightly away from the pure warm red/yellow core of C Major toward the broader orange band. This secondary harmony hovers within the composition without displacing the tonic — a suggestion of movement, unresolved, the way a sus chord suspends resolution.

Context

The C Major triad maps to three positions on my circle of fifths color wheel: C at 12 o'clock (red), E at 4 o'clock (yellow), G at 1 o'clock (red-orange). These three pitches sit within a narrow arc of the warm half of the wheel — no cool tones appear in the triad itself. C Major is unusual in this system for its thermal homogeneity: all three chord tones are warm. Most keys cross into cool territory; C Major does not.

The spread voicing as compositional principle came directly from the étude practice at the piano. In close position, C-E-G sit within a single octave. In spread voicing, the tones open across registers — the bass note grounded low, the upper tones reaching higher, each with room to sound before blending. This spatial logic translates directly into canvas geometry: distinct zones for each chord tone, separated rather than stacked.

The G7sus inflection adds D (orange, at 2 o'clock) and reinforces G (red-orange). The dominant seventh suspended chord does not resolve in this painting — it sits within the warm field as a harmonic color, an opening rather than a cadence. The orange areas of the composition carry this secondary presence.

Computational color analysis confirms the chromesthetic mapping: orange family 60.9%, red-orange 24.1%, yellow-orange 14.4%, yellow 0.5%. Analogous dominance 1.0, temperature bias 0.999. The painting's distribution is a direct consequence of the harmonic material.

References

[1] Arnaud Quercy (2024). C Major - Research on Harmony - Variation 1 — Catalog raisonné. https://arnaudquercy.art/en/catalogue-raisonne/AQC0696.html

[2] Quercy, A. (2025). ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2662-7790

[3] Quercy, A. (2024). C Major - Research on Harmony - Variation 1 (AQC0696). Synesthetic Explorations collection. https://artquamanima.com/en/artworks/2024/01/c-major-research-on-harmony-variation-1_7qw.html

[4] Quercy, A. (2025). Synesthetic Explorations — Circle of Fifths / Color Wheel Mapping. [URL to be added]

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Thematic Elements

chromesthetic mapping C Major triad acrylic on linen canvas circle of fifths geometric color fields Synesthetic Explorations Research on Harmony warm orange palette large format painting Arnaud Quercy contemporary art

Epistemic profile

Claim typeartistic statement
Voicefirst person
Epistemic statusfirst person testimony
Methodologychromesthetic mapping
Certaintyhigh

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