I guess by this point its pretty clear that I am not an art major, nor am I really anything close. Pre- Raphaelites confuse me, cubism upsets me, and surrealism frustrates me. Like I said, definitely not an art major. However, as our class continues I’ve started to find a new appreciation for these feelings. I used to only like art that I felt I connected personally with. It had to give me a sense or serenity, make me laugh, make me happy, or I had to find it visually pleasing. No matter which specific emotion the painting drew out from me, I always had to have positive reaction for me to appreciate the painting. Now, I’m starting to understand that there can be a sort of beauty in art that can inflict so much confusion, discomfort, and frustration. Although sometimes when I look at Picasso’s paintings I want to scream, “What am I looking at?” and looking at a Dali’s painting I constantly find myself thinking,“But there would never be a clock there…” I’m starting to understand that that is what is so fun about art. Things can appear anyway you want them to, in any setting, with any colors, and from any perspective. This brings me to surrealism. If there were ever artists putting things where they didn’t belong it was the surrealists.
Surrealism was started in 1924 by the French poet André Breton when he published Manifesto of Surrealism. Breton’s work was strongly influenced by Freud’s exploration of the mind. Freud explored the unconscious where memories and basic instincts are stored. The aim of surrealism has been described as trying to reveal the unconscious while finding a balance with real life. There was also many social and political movements associated with surrealism, and for a short time it was even affiliated with the Communist party. Surrealism quickly spread to an international movement where its influence extended far beyond the art world, having a profound affect on art, literature, and cinema. Out of the surrealism movement came several prominent artists, one of those artists was the bizarre Salvador Dali.
Salvador Dalí
Dali was born in 1904 in Figueres, Spain. Dali was encouraged from a young age to pursue art and eventually studied at an art academy in Madrid. In 1920 Dali studied in Paris where he met Picasso, Magritte, and Miró, this is where he first began experimenting with surrealism. Dali’s mom died when he was young which inspired a darker side in some of Dali’s paintings. In 1929 Dali expanded his talents into the film word. Then, later that year, Dali met Elena Dmitrievna Diakonova who would soon be his wife and muse. By the mid 1930s Dali had made a name for himself, famous for his over-the-top personality and equally so artwork.
Swans Reflecting Elephants (1937)
One piece of Dali’s that particularly spoke to me was Swans Reflecting Elephants (1937). The piece is mystical and weird and speaks to everything that Dali does but there are still elements of realism that allow me to connect to it. The painting is extremely peculiar and like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It took me a few seconds of looking at it to understand exactly everything that was happening, but I’m sure that was Dali’s intention. During this time period Dali did a number of “double image” paintings. At the center of Swans Reflecting Elephants (1937) there are three swans whose reflections in the water are three elephants. Dali liked to pair unlikely and paradoxically things in his double images. In the case of Swans Reflecting Elephants (1937) the delicate swans are paired with the large and heavy elephants. The swans are at the center of the canvas and are white, which helps to draw your eye to them, but their winding and curved necks make it so they almost blend into the wavy trees behind them. In the reflection on the pond it is the swans necks that become the elephants trunk. The trees that are in the background of the swans then become the elephants body and legs. On the left of the image is a man standing and looking away from the swans and elephants. I’m not going to lie, it took me a very long time to find the man. It has been said that it is a self-portrait of Dali and that he painted himself facing away from the rest of the image because he was frustrated with the direction of the surrealism movement. However, it has also been claimed that the man is Dali’s friend, Marcel Duchamp. The background of the painting is Dali’s hometown of Catalonian. The point of view of the spectator is a little above eye level. The cliffs do not appear to be towering over the viewer, nor do the trees. From this angle we are able to see both the perspective of the swans sitting on the water and the elephants clearly standing on the bank. The cliffs frame the painting in a pretty symmetrical way that make the swans and elephants the main focus of the painting. The painting is structured through repeating horizontals and verticals. The most prominent horizontal line is the one separating the swans from the reflection. There are then more horizontals seen at the edge where the water meets the land, at the top of the cliffs, and at the base of the trees. Vertical lines can be seen in the trees, two of the swans necks and elephants trunks, and in one of the clouds.
As I continued to look at and analyze this painting I found it more and more impressive and utterly beautiful. I never thought that I was someone who liked surrealist art, but as I’ve continued to look closer at it I’ve begun to understand where the artists are coming from. Imagine trying to paint that reflection so precise that it almost seems plausible? I can’t. Not to mention just coming up with some of the ideas that Dali had? Impossible. His work is interesting, unique, and can make you stop and think, “Why…? How..? and Why?” Something that has the ability to do that I can respect and appreciate.
The American's guide to art in London 