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Essay on the history of surrealism
Essay on the history of surrealism
Symbols used in the story The Alchemist
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How do birds suddenly appear? Although not one of the most well-known surrealist painters of the XX century, Remedios Varo deserves a place among the greatest of them. In this piece of 1957, The Creation of Birds, she brings to the viewer a multilayered image, where, discussing the creative process, she reveals the skill and genius that make her work remarkable and meaningful to this day. Contrasting with Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam, an image largely associated with this process, Varo’s image of creation isn’t grandiose or miraculous. It’s contained, intimate, showing the creator not as strong and omnipotent but rather as an attentive feminine figure, part human, part owl. Her eyes are closed or turned down in a state of deep concentration, …show more content…
Moreover, today, in face of new scientific theories, this image will report us to the String Theory, which speaks of vibrating strings as the building blocks of creation. On her left hand, bringing light from a distant star, is magnifying glass shaped as a triangle. An old symbol, the triangle represents not only the divine Logos but also the geometry that lies underneath the manifested universe. Besides tools, however, the creative process will demand raw material. The prima materia comes from the stars in the sky, a statement which, in fact, is scientifically true. Going through a process of distillation in an alchemical vase, the heavy and disorganized is transmuted, the stardust refined in the three primary colors, which are transformed by her careful work and will become alive as birds. Creatures of air and land, birds can be found in the mythology and symbolism of all cultures. Often representing freedom, they are seen as the connection between the sky and earth, between gods and humanity, the visible and the invisible, and their circular path in the composition clearly reinforces this concept. Two vases on the background will also express this alchemical
When that room is entered all voices are hushed, and all merriment silenced. The place is as holy as a church. In the centre of the canvas is the Virgin Mother with a young, almost girlish face or surpassing loveliness. In her eyes affection and wonder are blended, and the features and the figure are the most spiritual and beautiful in the world's art.
Two of the most extensively analyzed works of art are Diego Velasquez's Las Meninas and Jan Van Eyck's Arnolfini Double Portrait. Both of these artist's talent won them recognition not only during their lifetime but after as well. Both Velasquez and Van Eyck have a justly earned title as the most talented artists of their respective times. A detailed examination of the details and intricacies of these artist's respective masterpieces, their similarities, and what sets them apart not just from each other but from other paintings from their time period and style, will lead the viewer to a better understanding of the mentalities of these gifted artists and how they transcend their respective genres and contemporaries to create their own artistic identities.
The painting’s canvas has been exploited perfectly. All the space on the canvas had been used. However, space was not used to create depth, and there was no layering or recession present. The painting does not feel that it has motion, apart from what it looks like the creatures eating from the tree of life. The eating motion was depicted by the posture of the creatures, with arms extending towards the plants – in the case of creatures – or beaks being wide open – in the case of birds. All these factors 'accord' the painting with a unique
Campbell examines thirteen Venetian engravings and paintings, as well as an example of early poetry, to illustrate the grafting effect of different imagery sources within a single picture, along with poetic imagery and form used with poesia. Many examples of art that Campbell examines focuses on the nature of the works, such as the juxtaposition of “pagan opposites” in Christian subject matter, the idea of the gaze, juxtaposing two pictorial ...
The artists of the Baroque had a remarkably different style than artists of the Renaissance due to their different approach to form, space, and composition. This extreme differentiation in style resulted in a very different treatment of narrative. Perhaps this drastic stylistic difference between the Renaissance and Baroque in their treatment of form, space, and composition and how these characteristics effect the narrative of a painting cannot be seen more than in comparing Perugino’s Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to St. Peter from the Early Renaissance to Caravaggio’s Conversion of St. Paul from the Baroque.Perugino was one of the greatest masters of the Early Renaissance whose style ischaracterized by the Renaissance ideals of purity, simplicity, and exceptional symmetry of composition. His approach to form in Christ Delivering the Keys of the Kingdom to St.Peter was very linear. He outlined all the figures with a black line giving them a sense of stability, permanence, and power in their environment, but restricting the figures’ sense of movement. In fact, the figures seem to not move at all, but rather are merely locked at a specific moment in time by their rigid outline. Perugino’s approach to the figures’themselves is extremely humanistic and classical. He shines light on the figures in a clear, even way, keeping with the rational and uncluttered meaning of the work. His figures are all locked in a contrapposto pose engaging in intellectual conversation with their neighbor, giving a strong sense of classical rationality. The figures are repeated over and over such as this to convey a rational response and to show the viewer clarity. Perugino’s approach to space was also very rational and simple. He organizes space along three simple planes: foreground, middle ground, and background. Christ and Saint Peter occupy the center foreground and solemn choruses of saints and citizens occupy the rest of the foreground. The middle distance is filled with miscellaneous figures, which complement the front group, emphasizing its density and order, by their scattered arrangement. Buildings from the Renaissance and triumphal arches from Roman antiquity occupy the background, reinforcing the overall classical message to the
TXT- He was concentrated with the spiritual forces of nature than the exterior aspects and curvy shapes of the pastels were inspired from nature. The image is a complete abstraction of a dove used with pastels to create a geometric figure. Pg 346
“Over and over, in the Virgin of the Rocks, the Mona Lisa, the surviving designs for the Leda, the Burlington House cartoon, and the Saint Anne, Leonardo explicitly associated powerful female images with highly developed, visually extraordinary surrounding landscapes, as if to as if to assert the unity between the physical universe and the female cosmic generative principle as a philosophical claim” (Broude, 1992, p. 74).
When first approaching this work, one feels immediately attracted to its sense of wonder and awe. The bright colors used in the sun draws a viewer in, but the astonishment, fascination, and emotion depicted in the expression on the young woman keeps them intrigued in the painting. It reaches out to those who have worked hard in their life and who look forward to a better future. Even a small event such as a song of a lark gives them hope that there will be a better tomorrow, a thought that can be seen though the countenance by this girl. Although just a collection of oils on a canvas, she is someone who reaches out to people and inspires them to appreciate the small things that, even if only for a short moment, can make the road ahead seem brighter.
In Franz Kafka novel, Metamorphosis, we are introduced to the disappointment that Greg Samsa feels as a result of feeling inadequate through the middle class life he is leading. In this novel, Kafka uses a build up of emotion caused by his own internal struggle and expresses it through this rather perverse story. Like Kafka’s complex and daunting tale, many surrealist painters have used the same emotion and theme through their artwork and through the use dimension, have brought this feeling to life. In the Salvador Dali’s painting, “Illumined Pleasures”, this same morbid appeal can be found as well. Both of these works of art are similar in that there is a loss with the sense of the real world and there is a more dominate representation of a world that would reflect that of a dream.
Botticelli’s Primavera can be labeled as one the most notable interpretative challenges of art history, due to the plethora of differing interpretations of its meaning. Some interpret the Primavera as a mythological depiction surrounding a wedding in the painting’s patron’s family, others believe it is an allegorical representation of the arrival of spring or a symbolic portrayal of Neoplatonic philosophies concerning the nature of love. Although scholars disagree on what exactly Botticelli trying to express in Primavera, most do agree on the identity of the figures in the painting which include mythological figures based primarily on the works of the Greek poet, Ovid. Although the exact meaning will remain unknown, considering differing interpretations can assist in understanding the notions presented and can aid in analysing the findings accordingly.
Crowther’s main point is that, if visual art is to be understood in ways going beyond the spectatorial viewpoint alone, art must be examined within both the analytic and phenomenological traditions of philosophy (page). He offers critical discussions of Wollheim, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Lacan and Dufrenne to demonstrate this. (Curiously, he omits from his analysis Ingarden’s work, Bachelard’s poetics of space and Nietzsche, whose philosophy could have helped him to develop a connection between picturing and eternal recurrence more effectively.)
When an artist of any sort is inspired they have what can very closely be compared with a spiritual feeling. Some have said that this state in which, the imagination flows so freely is that of a conscious dream. In this short essay I will explore the ideas behind creativity and this dreamlike state of inspiration. In order to do so we must first decide what creativity is and then how it is affected.
In some instances we can review a selected group of artists all of which interpret humanity and set views and philosophy’s of existentialism. In other ways these particular set of artists sought out to project ideas of the human within artistic practice, whether it be through emotive language or aesthetically through form.
Giacomo’s garden, like Eden, has lush greenery, has borders which keep separate the inside and outside worlds, and has its own version of Adam and Eve, who are, as Oliver Evans argues, Beatrice and Giovanni, respectively (186). Despite similarities to the original, perfect Eden, what makes Giacomo’s garden an inverse-Eden is that it is Fallen, and its Fallen state is revealed through the poisonous nature of Beatrice and the plants within. Giacomo’s garden is also like an inverse-Eden because Beatrice is Adam—for she was created by Giacomo, who appears to be playing the role of God—and Giovanni is Eve, whom Giacomo (God) finds so his Beatrice can have a mate. This gender-reversal of “Adam” and “Eve,” in addition to the poisonous plants make Giacomo’s garden like, but also not exactly like,
In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Dedalus defines beauty and the artist's comprehension of his/her own art. Stephen uses his esthetic theory with theories borrowed from St. Thomas Aquinas and Plato. The discourse can be broken down into three main sections: 1) A definitions of beauty and art. 2) The apprehension and qualifications of beauty. 3) The artist's view of his/her own work. I will explain how the first two sections of his esthetic theory relate to Stephen. Furthermore, I will argue that in the last section, Joyce is speaking of Stephen Dedalus and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as his art.