Analysis Of Romare Bearden's Rocket To The Moon

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The collage “Rocket to the Moon” by Romare Bearden depicts life in the slums using bold colors and positive shapes. It seems that the artist is trying to show the repression of African-Americans in America, and the struggle they face when trying to elevate their position in society. This could also be a demonstration of the absurdity of man’s ability to fly a rocket to the moon and inability to fix the problems associated with inner city life.
The collage depicts a full moon high above the congested streets of the city. Besides triggering werewolf transformations, the full moon symbolizes the height of power, the peak of clarity, and fullness and obtainment of desire; in this particular work it also represents freedom. It seems that the rocket is symbolic of African-Americans trying to escape the slums and achieve any of the previously mentioned things the moon symbolizes. The overcrowding in the painting and distinct separation between the moon and streets of full of black people may be …show more content…

The black cat is a source of superstition in many cultures, and in the United States it is a symbol of bad luck. On the opposite corner of the collage, the bottom right, there is a picture of an African American who some interpret as Martin Luther King Jr, a leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement who preached the power of nonviolence. In this interpretation, the black cat is seens as representative of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, a group who practiced militant self-defense of minority groups against the United States government. Though they fought for the same cause, the two parties had different means of accomplishing their goals. If the figure in the bottom corner is in fact Martin Luther King Jr, his presence in the collage could symbolize the dream of escaping the problems of the inner city, because he always dreamt things would get

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