I'm not into painting as much as I am into music, but for this post, I'll take Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening, by Salvador Dalí, as an example of those paintings that I consider are one of the most intriguing and disturbing but yet fascinating pieces of art.
According to the experts, this painting (as many of the works of Salvador Dalí) has made an enormous contribution to the surrealism movement and its consolidation in the history of art.There is some debate about the surrealism name, there are some people who argue that the name itself has a sub-prefix connotation, and represents the total opposite of what the movement was about. A few years ago I attended to a surrealism conference, and the speaker said that the correct name, at least in spanish, should be suprarealismo, but I'm aware that some people call it superrealismo.
Anyway, the painting, as I already have shown it, has a lot of symbolism, and many interpretations, which explain the painting as a consequence of the historical context, and many other causes, but I have always liked to think of the meaning by myself, and just get lost into the colors and shapes.
I mean, the painting is gorgeous, and though staring at a painting in the computer monitor is nothing compared to what staring at a real painting is, I was really shocked when I discovered Salvador Dalí and this particular painting. It evokes sensations like fear and despair, but it is impossible to not continue discovering details and think about them.
For example, if you look closely you will see a bee around a pomegranate at the bottom of the painting, but the magnificence of the painting is the tigers threatening the woman in her sleep, while one of them is coming out of a fish, which at the same time is coming out of a giant pomegranate.
But the landscape is even more interesting, you can see a distorted elephant walking into what looks like the sea, but the elephant itself is quite creepy, with those long and fragile legs.
Finally, the whole painting represents what the tittle suggests: a moment, that's what makes the painting so atracctive, you can feel the dynamics of it, and get involved in that instant.
As you see, I didn't write my interpretation, this is just a description, I'll let you think of it as whatever you want it to be, and let yourself make your own.
- Miguel Ángel Benítez Torreblanca
3 comentarios:
I really enjoy seeing a painting and try to understand what the author is trying to convey, with this idea in mind I could spend hours in a museum. About the paintings of Salvador Dali, I haven’t been in contact with his work and much less with the surrealist movement. The only painting that I have seen, and I knew it belongs to his work is “The Persistence of Memory”, you can recognize it because the melted watches. What I feel in this work is a sensation of desolation, and principally it transmits me that the memories acquire soft forms that adjust themselves to the circumstances. The link for seeing this picture is shown below.
http://www.culturageneral.net/pintura/cuadros/jpg/la_persistencia_de_la_memoria.jpg
About the painting that you post, "Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening", I believe that it is gorgeous, because the symbolism. What I understand in this painting are: the peaceful landscape may represent a peaceful dream of the woman, I consider that the elephant with those large length and the tiger coming out of the fish are the symbol that represent that everything is a dream. About the bee, the tigers and the bayonet could be the elements that represent the external factors that caused the awakening of the woman from a deep dream. The bayonet could be interpreted as the feeling of a sudden awaken caused by something or someone when we have peaceful dreams. I think that the small pomegranate between two droplets of water is related with the essence of the feminine, because of the form of the shadow that it casts on the rock: a heart. I couldn’t find the meaning of the big pomegranate, the one where the fish is coming out.
What I felt when I saw this painting is happiness and I put a smile upon my face, because it reflects all the strange thoughts that we have when we are sleeping (for example, in our dreams We could be superheroes, rock stars, winners of the Novel Prize or simply being in the strangest place of the universe) and the sensation of losing them when we woke up suddenly (like a bucket of cold water or a blow on our neck). All this thoughts and sensation are well represented in the painting.
Talking about the colors and forms, they are hypnotic and captivating, as you said, is impossible to appreciate a painting by seeing in a monitor, is important to be in front of it and feel how your eyes will lost in the textures, shapes and colors.
This painting is a worthy representative of the surrealist movement, it reflects fictitious and exaggerated elements only for expressing an emotion. The elements of the painting aren’t sorted in a logical manner and can have a variety of interpretations.
"Beautiful as the chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissection table." Lautréamont.
Well, to star with I want to say that painting is one of my vicious and it is something that I really love, and surrealism is a very important and wonderful movement in which I’m very interested and that I really like it. Dalí is one of my favourite painters of all the times and i agree with you in almost everything that you say.
I chose the quote above because I consider that it summarize a lot of what surrealism is, and according to the quote we can say that surrealism loves the union of things, which apparently have not logical relationship to each other, in a fantastic environment to create an atmosphere and an image similar to that of our dreams. This, is clearly seen in the painting that you chose because it put together the tigers, the fish, the sea, the naked woman, and everything creating an amazing image that impress anyone who sees it.
I agree in the fact that the painting has a lot of symbolism, but I don´t know the meaning of these symbols so I prefer to keep my impressions of it before I try to put a wrong meaning of any of these, and besides something really important that we have to remember is that we are dealing with a surrealistic painting that, according to the characteristics of the movement and its manifesto, is the result of the subconscious and it is suppose that it can’t have a logical explanation for the painter neither for us. So, for me, the painting is wonderful it transmits me a lot of feelings as peace but at the same time fear, and I love all the objects that are in it and I love the colours that he used it.
By the way, I can´t talk about surrealism without mention a painter that I consider to be one of the greatest of all times: René Magritte. He, like Dali, is one of the principal representatives of the movement, but his style is a little different because his works has a more philosophical and metaphysical character and are very thought-provoking, I really recommend it to you they are fantastic.
To finish, I want to say that I love the topic you chose and I like a lot the painting, congratulations for your good taste! And finally I want to recommend to you a wonderful page in which you can find a lot of paintings of any painter you want, the link is: http://pintura.aut.org/ , I hope you enjoy it!
Greetings,
Norma.
Hello guys. I am speechless! I am so proud of your English! I understand the strong power of communication and words. We can all share somthing. Letting others see ho we can be affected by anything we hear or look at is great!
i personally think that Dalí was strongly influenced by psychoanalis as well as most of subrealism painters, so in my particular viewpoint this painting is a picture
of our uncouncious mind. Just an opinion!
Excellent job!
Mark 10
Keep posted!
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