Introduction I have chosen to critically analyse a piece of visual art by the Spanish artist Salvador Dalí. The painting is called Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Figure 1.1), oil on canvas, painted in 1936. It is a key piece of Dalí’s work as it represents the gore and horror of the Spanish Civil War as portrayed by Salvador Dalí himself.
This piece of art was inspired by Dalí’s visit to Barcelona in 1934, while at that time the Catalan Republicans and Anarcho-Syndicalists merged their forces together to ultimately gain independence for the region, yet the Government army have regained control, resulting in scenes of violence, gunfire’s, and death in Catalunya.
Dalí’s badly timed visit to Spain was sparked by an invitation to a lecture from Dalmau, an art dealer, but he decided to abruptly cancel the meeting due to the dangerous circumstances of the Catalonian uprising, leaving Dalí and his wife Gala to flee Spain.
Description
The painting itself, preceded the start of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936, yet Dalí was able to capture the vast devastation of this war. Dalí describes this painting as a ‘Vast
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The beans could also reflect upon the melancholic nature of killing, ‘Swallowing all that unconscious meat’, and the outcome which is a mass of biodegradable waste in the form of excrement which lays on the right lower limb, which will be avoided and forgotten about. This echoes the murder of Lorca, an innocent person who was killed for personal reasons and then ultimately left to decay. All of this is contrasted by the beauty of the Catalan sky, that was once less bloody, and
Quiroga’s literary pieces have been undoubtedly influenced by tragedy and death encountered in his life. His devotion for Edgar Allan Poe’s caliginous style enforced him to delve into gothic themes in his works; such as death. The element of the ‘fantastic plot’ also persists in his literature, as explored in ‘"El almohadón de plumas" – In this passage, Quiroga conforms to illustrate the characterization and setting of the short story.
The social issues of the time are highlighted in the artist’s work. This was done to show that the working class is standing united in the face of oppression or opposition.
Death is the unavoidable part of our daily lives. In the poems, “Shrike Tree” by Lucia Perillo and “Plums Falling Well” by Linda Gregg, the poets discussed the plot with an accepting attitude towards death because it is part of the natural life cycle. In our society, we tend to hide and avoid death; However, Shrikes and the plums in the poems face death with an open manner. Their attitudes towards death indicate the shrikes and plums are not afraid to die.
People are supporters of the opinion that art is designed to influence a social behavior through plays, propaganda, newspapers and by paintings. For example, paintings are used to promote a powerful form of protest against inequality and atrocity. In a fictionalization story based on real facts, In the Time of the Butterflies, by Julia Alvarez. It demonstrates a clear understanding on struggle, loss of freedom and the living conditions in which one lives in a reign of terror.
On its premiere in Madrid in 1967, El tragaluz was very well received, particularly due to its ‘experimental’ structure and subtle criticism of the Franco regime, which were considered avant-garde for the time. The play calls for the audience to be propelled into the distant future and become observers of an experiment that is temporally based in the 1960s. Therefore, the audience members of the time were watching their contemporaries in the form of the main characters. The play is centered around three significant periods including the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939, the mid-1960s, and the twenty-fifth century or thirtieth century. The main story line follows the turbulent relationship between two brothers who lead very different lives as a consequence of the civil war.
There are many overwhelming contrasting views on the idea of gender roles and we see that in Dalí’s paintings where many of his early work were based on fear and loathing of the opposite sex. Throughout the first part of this essay I’m going to discuss the differences in Dalí’s views of the opposite sex and how he represents these views within his paintings. During his early work he portrays a sense fear of the other sex. Dalí had a fear of sexual contact and is represented through his
The painting’s size alone does wonders to draw viewers
Through the use of pig imagery Marquez effectively shows that Santiago’s death was one where “He was carved up like a pig” [p.2], placing emphasis upon the brutality of the murder. This brings to light how uncivilized this society is, allowing the reader to feel sympathy for Santiago
Known for his defining role in the Mexican Mural Movement, Diego Rivera sought to create paintings that depicted the Mexican renaissance and socialist ideas of Mexican politics. After some time studying in Europe, Rivera was influenced by Italian renaissance artist Giotto to paint using fresco techniques (famsf.org). “Two Women and a Child” serves as an example of the theme he portrays in many of his paintings. While the fresco technique was predominantly used during the Italian renaissance, Rivera revitalized this ideal by including it in his painting of “Two Women and a Child”. Rivera’s use of techniques in Two Woman and a Child provide viewers with an understanding of the strength, pride, and perseverance Mexico had during the Mexican Renaissance.
The presentation of the tree as fertile and the links to Ofelia’s mother presents it as the womb of Spain withered by the effects of Franco’s fascist dictatorship. This interpretation is consistent with Ofelia’s understanding of reality, and Del Toro’s use of symbolism subtly invites the audience to draw a comparison between the two
An initial reaction to this artwork is a feeling of mourn with an explosion of emotions. At first, the artwork serves as a symbol of sorrow, despair, and melancholy. The title of the work adds a dry, bland sense to the meaning behind the drawing. Through observing the drawing more strenuously, the work becomes more of a symbol of war and a cry for help. The despair and troublesome times that the working class went through during war is characterized in this artwork.
This exploration of the unconscious on the canvas is what he called his “ paranoiac-critical method”; where he takes some elements experienced in his state of unconsciousness and represent them in his paintings as realistically as possible so that the viewer can interpret it in his own way, using his own experience of the unconscious. He also states that his method is simply the organization of his inner thoughts represented through the balance between subjectivity and objectivity, by relating unusual objects together and using optical illusions . Dali wanted to explore this hidden realm, to discover any personal fears or traumas, that will further help him understand this part of our mind and furthermore represent it in his paintings. He strove to relate dreams to reality to reach the state of ‘ sur-reality’. Just like Freud, Dali explained that dreams come from the subconscious part of the mind, representing suppressed ideas that are usually considered taboo in the real word we live in.
This piece of art confirms the power and the emotional state of everyone that was captured during this horrifying day for Spain. Francisco Goya paints a Spanish worker with his hands up just moments before he was massacred on the hill they call Principe Pio hill. This Spanish man speaks out for all those Spaniards who were murdered. His arms straight out on each said of his head represents Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. He wears a white shirt that represents an angel trying to prove his innocence.
Both De Beauvoir and Picasso had started their work after wars; she wrote the second sex after the French revolution as Picasso drew some of his paintings after the Spanish civil war. Their work depended on how they were influenced by the results of the war. De Beauvoir believed that war was a main reason which reinforces inferiority of women. Unlike Picasso who took the war as a starting point to his work; thus he painted Guernica. He embodied her writing in creating deep-misunderstood masterpieces.
The superb use of symbolism in this painting has added complexity to the painting that contains social criticism on politics, on politician, and on culture, resulting in different interpretations from different people. It is also because of this complexity and layering of meanings that makes this painting ever more interesting and much more than what meets the