Drawing after 'States of Mind: The Farewells', 1912

his drawing is based on the central canvas of a famous triptych in which Umberto Boccioni sought to capture the different emotions generated by the departure of a train. Its two other scenes evoked the contrasting moods of ‘Those who Stay’ and ‘Those who Go’. Here, figures say goodbye to one another amidst swirls of smoke and steam, embracing through the windows of the train’s carriages. Boccioni’s inclusion of numerals was a typical Cubist device, as was his incorporation of multiple viewpoints. In fact, the artist radically reworked the original, expressionist, version of the triptych following his exposure to Cubism during a visit to Paris in late 1911.