Surrealist paintings -_schwappach

Surrealist Paintings 1

Running head: Surrealist Paintings

Surrealist Paintings

Phase #5, Assignment #10, Individual Project #5

Author: TSgt Loren Karl-Robinson Schwappach

Prepared for: Colorado Technical University

HUM140-0804A-08 Art Appreciation

Prepared for Professor: Tammy Starzyk

Completed on: 9 November, 2008


Abstract

Surrealism or beyond realism was a twentieth century movement founded by the French writer

Andre Breton in 1924. Surrealism was influenced by the theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl

Jung as a means to eliminate conscious control by unlocking the unconscious mind. Surrealism

grew out of the despair brought on by World War I, where generations of artists began to lose

faith in rational thought and turned towards their dreams and subconscious for inspiration. The

Surrealistic style uses imagery from the subconscious to create art without intention of logical

comprehensibility. This short paper will explore five great surrealistic paintings, there details,

features, colors, realism, and feelings and the painters and world events that inspired them. Each

of the paintings offered in this work are presented in their full majestic beauty on the companion

PowerPoint presentation which should be viewed in conjunction with this paper. (Surrealist Art,

n.d.)


Image 1: Salvador Dali. (Spanish, 1904-1989). Illumined Pleasures. 1929. Oil and collage on composition board, 9 3/8 x 13 3/4" (23.8 x 34.7

cm). The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection. The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved on November 9, 2008 from:

http://moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A1364&page_number=3&template_id=1&sort_order=1

A first example of a surrealist painting is Illuminated Pleasures (image 1), painted using

oil on canvas in 1929 by the artist Salvador Dali, who is considered the greatest surrealist painter

in history. Illuminated Pleasures features several grand theatrical performances and vivid

dreamlike dramas in conflict on stage, separated in boxes, space, and thought. Illuminated

Pleasures plays with the disjunction between reality and the strange world of make believe

experienced in the dark production of a movie theater. The painting features many disturbing

events reminiscent of what could be a bad acid flash back. Illuminated Pleasures is a mixture of

amazing dreams and horrific anxieties. These theatrical dreams and anxieties are illuminated

from the scared white blob creature standing at the top of some government building, or the two



hands fighting over a sharp bloodied knife, or the amazing creatures and mechanical wonders

illustrated in the center box and on the top of the painting. There is also a sort of egg like, alien

object on the left of the stage and a lonely naked inquisitive man touching the center theater box

as if in attempt to gain entrance. The painting features many grey scale imagery as most films of

the 1900's to the 1930's were in black and white. The artist also generously uses blue tones to

add coolness, depth, and atmosphere to his work and masterfully uses distortions of geometry,

size variations and shadowing to grant wide ranges of depth. Each box in the painting is a self

contained universe each with its own inhabitants, space, and view. There is an outline of a

human shadow in the main frame as well as the bicyclist's box indicating the presence of the

external audience. This painting is very Freud like and seems to destroy any sense of rationality

and lawful design. It inspires feelings of love, awe, wonder, suspense, anxiety, and terror in

what seems a swirl of textures. Dali may have been experiencing many of these contrasting

emotions when he created this surreal masterpiece. The first commercially available motion

pictures were introduced in the early 1900s offered an ingenious method of sharing dreams and

dramas on screen. Illuminated Pleasures is the artist's contribution to this incredible medium.

(Illuminated Pleasures, n.d.)


Image 2: Peter Blume. (American, born in Russia, 1906–1992). South of Scranton. 1931. Oil on canvas; H. 56, W. 66 in. (142.2 x 167 cm).

George A. Hearn Fund. The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved on November 9, 2008 from:

http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/modern_art/south_of_scranton/objectView.aspx?&OID=210008252&collID=21&

vw=0

South of Scranton (image 2) created in 1931 by the artist Peter Blume is another

wonderful example of surrealist painting. Blume emigrated with his family from Russia, and

South of Scranton gathers many of the scenes Blume encountered during a trip while driving

through the coal fields of Scranton, Pennsylvania, the steel mills, quarries and locomotives of

Bethlehem, and the shocking sight of navy sailors in underwear performing acrobatics aboard a

ship in Charleston, Carolina. South of Scranton looses all logical connections as Blume

transitions each of the scenes from his strange voyage, much like the passing of a quick dream.

From the placement of the opened coal mine, the flight like stance of the four acrobats, the

http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/modern_art/south_of_scranton/objectView.aspx?&OID=210008252&collID=21&vw=0



appearance of a yellow castle wall set on the top of some enormous cliff, and the illogical drop

of mast stairs into an open sky, the only logical, realistic component of the painting is the lake

and sky thrown in the paintings background. All of these illogical, dreamlike components

attribute to the paintings surrealist effect. The artist used cool, sharp colors in portraying most of

the paintings themes. South of Scranton takes the audience to a time of business and industry,

instilling serious thoughts in a very confusing, and illogical manor as do most famous surreal

paintings. (South of Scranton, n.d.)

Image 3: Salvador Dali. (Spanish, 1904-1989). Metamorphosis of Narcissus. 1937

Oil on canvas. 511 x 781 mm frame: 820 x 1092 x 85 mm. The Tate Collection. Tate Collection. Retrieved on November 9, 2008 from:

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=2987

Metamorphose of Narcissus (image 3) painted in 1937 by Salvador Dali is also an

example of surrealist art. According to mythology, Narcissus was incredibly vain and fell in



love with his reflection while looking into a pool of water. Because Narcissus was incapable of

embracing his watery reflection, the gods immortalized him as a flower. Dali captures this

metamorphosis or transformation by doubling a crouching figure with his hand clutching an egg.

In Metamorphose of Narcissus the flower of Narcissus sprouts from the egg indicating the result

of Narcissus's narcissism. Dali uses a wide range of warm and cold hues, shadowing, and

reflection in his painting. There are several dreams like events scattered randomly in the

background illustrating the surrealist atmosphere of the painting. The reflected image of

Narcissus's hand and flower appear extremely hazy, dreary, and much less beautiful than the

original painting, probably hinting that copies, and reflections are never as sharp or beautiful as

the original. The reflected image is also missing several details from the original, such as

Narcissus's fingernail, and the disappearance of the Narcissus flower. The statue in the

background centered in chess like tiles has its back facing away from the audience in a very vain

expression. The group of figures in the middle of the painting seem to be anxious on the right

side of the painting while appear engaged in violent acts in the left side of the image. The

painting summons feelings of fear, anxiety, and remorse from the audience, all of which were

probably intended by Dali. All of the patterns in the painting create dream like, chaotic imagery

common in surrealist paintings, and is why Dali's Metamorphose of Narcissus is such a admired

work of art. (Metamorphosis of Narcissus, n.d.)


Image 4: Wifredo Lam. (Cuban, 1902-1982). The Jungle. 1943. Gouache on paper mounted on canvas, 94 1/4 x 90 1/2" (239.4 x 229.9 cm).

Inter-American Fund. The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved on November 9, 2008 from:


A fourth surrealistic painting worth of mention is The Jungle (image 4) created in 1943

by the Wifredo Lam. Wifredo Lam was born in Cuba, and spent eight years in Europe where he

befriended Pablo Picasso which attributed to his surrealistic flare. In The Jungle several masked

figures simultaneously appear and disappear among a thick background of bamboo. The

creatures in the paining appear as half man and half animal immersed in a primitive, wild,

overpopulated jungle. Lam uses wide ranges of green, orange, yellow, and light reds to illustrate

the merging of the Cuban jungle and its monstrous inhabitants. The painting seems to be a

mixture of African and Cuban styles perhaps hinting at the primitive cultures and mysticism

brought into Cuba through the displacement of African's. The painting seems to summon a



feeling of wonder, fascination and a slight sense of fear in the viewer as if staring into an

unknown, mystical world for the first time. The strange illogical, disorderly arrangement of

limbs, colors and patterns give this painting the surrealistic dream like qualities. Lam may have

been inspired to create The Jungle to offer an alternative to the wildly inaccurate and

unimaginative view of the African-Cuban society popularized throughout Europe. (The Jungle,

n.d.)

Image 5: Yves Tanguy. (French, 1900-1955). Through Birds, through Fire, but Not through Glass , 1943

oil on canvas 40 in. x 35 in. Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Retrieved on November 9, 2008 from:

http://www.artsconnected.org/artsnetmn/inner/tanguy.html

For one last view of surrealism in art look no further than Yves Tanguy's Through Birds,

through Fire, but Not through Glass (image 5) painted in 1943. Like all surrealist painters Yves

Tanguy wanted to make art as seen through the world of dreams and the subconscious,



combining fantasy and realism to express private experiences. Through Birds, through Fire, but

Not through Glass is like glimpsing some strange, fantastic, alien-like, biomorphic form. Other

structured objects lie and float along a beach while bathed in a bath of sunlight creating shadows

and illusions of distance. Although many of the fundamental laws of perception are common in

the painting, the strange and fantastic bends, curves, and placement of the objects could never be

perceived outside of a dream like world. The objects become creatures of some strange foreign

world, were the inanimate becomes animate. Yves uses wide varieties of sharp and pastel like

colors in her painting to give form and life to her creations. Yves's Through Birds, through Fire,

but Not through Glass is a great example of the beauty and creativity that can only be found

through subconscious thought, and may have been a reaction to the bleak, devastating reality

brought on by World War II. (Yves Tanguy, n.d.)


References

Illuminated Pleasures (n.d.). The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved November 9, 2008 from

http://moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A1364&pag

e_number=3&template_id=1&sort_order=1

Metamorphosis of Narcissus (n.d.). Tate Collection. Retrieved November 9, 2008 from


The Jungle (n.d.). The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved November 9, 2008 from

http://moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A3349&pag

e_number=1&template_id=1&sort_order=1

South of Scranton (n.d.). The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved November 9, 2008 from

http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/modern_art/south_of_scra

nton/objectView.aspx?&OID=210008252&collID=21&vw=0

Stokstad, M. (2007). Art: a brief history (3rd ed.).

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Surrealist Art (n.d.). ArtLex. Retrieved November 9, 2008 from

http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/s/surrealism.html

Yves Tanguy (n.d.). ArtsNet Minnesota. Retrieved November 9, 2008 from









http://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/s/surrealism.html


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