Category: Art

10 TIMELESSSURREALIST PAINTINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW Surrealism The Song of Love, Surrealist Painting Art has become a part of this universe. So many art pieces are imbued with so much history, culture, emotion, and life that even the most replica couldn’t pin down their exact essence.   Up until today, there are many art lovers still searching for its original sources – here and there. The fact that experiencing an original piece in person feels like looking at the world from the same, unique vantage point of view from which the artist once saw that nobody else could. It’s an intimate experience like none other, an almost surreal synchronization of your energy combined with the artists in a perfect moment in time.   One of the most bizarre, intriguing yet very fascinating styles of art began to take shape in early 1920’s. It is also the time when Surrealism began its journey. Surrealism was known for its unique and intrigue connection between the artists and their artworks as its own focus is to delve more into deeper imagery and meanings of dreams as well as the subconscious imaginations. Have you seen these paintings somewhere? Let’s find out a little story behind these artworks! 1. Salvador Dalí Dream Caused by The Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening, 1944 Salvador Dalí, Surrealist Artist Salvador Dalí is best-known and is remain as one of the greatest Surrealist artist – until today. The melting clocks or The Persistence of Memory is one of Dalí’s most famous painting that he ever produced. But his artwork did not stop until then, it goes far beyond this painting.   Dream Caused by The Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening is an oil painting on wood. It is one of the most remarkable examples of Surrealist art.   The naked body figure in the painting is Gala, Dalí’s wife and muse, floating above a flat rock in a state of peaceful mind at the sea, possibly at Port Lligat. Dream Caused by The Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening, 1944 Dalí depicts two suspended droplets of water and a pomegranate, a Christian symbol of fertility and resurrection. The bee and pomegranate of the title hover below Gala’s body, while in the upper left of the painting is a fish that seems to bursts out from its pomegranate, while the tigers seem poised to attack her, as well as the riffle with a bayonet that is about to sting her in the arm. But all these are meant as a symbols of unconscious desires.   Above near the horizon, is an elephant carrying an obelisk on its back strides across the brilliant blue sea on a stilted leg. This creature was inspired by Bernini’s Elephant and Obelisk in Rome’s Piazza Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. For Dalí himself, this symbolizes as war and destruction. This painting represents a mood of terror and confusion which perfectly fit for nightmarish vision. The two tigers emerge together from the fish’s mouth, with a bar that threateningly might fall on the neck, which would cause her to wake up as she senses a danger, the buzz of the bee provokes the sensation of the sting which later on will wake Gala from her restful sleep.   This state of immobility and suspended animal can be related to the artist’s newfound interest in nuclear fission and atomic energy. However, dream imagery was still at the core of Dalí’s esthetics as he still had a great interest to the ideas of Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud.   Following his theory, Dalí understood the imagery of dreams to have multiple possible symbolic meanings and created paintings like this one that explored those complexities. Often, as in Dream Caused by The Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening, sexuality was a central theme in these artwork.   The painting is currently on display at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, Spain. 2. René Magritte The Treachery of Images, 1929 René Magritte, Surrealist Artist This painting was created by one and only René Magritte, one of the greatest Surrealist artists of all time. Magritte was known for his unique concept and ideas which he always put such a meaningful story behind all his masterpieces.   For example, The Treachery of Images. It depicts simple imagery of the pipe and contrasting statement “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” or “This is not a pipe”, it also creates a three-way paradox out of the conventional notion that objects correspond to words and images. Moreover it raises an important point on the discord between language and meaning.   Magritte’s artwork is quite simple, yet it triggers startling thoughts. The Treachery of Images, 1929 The persistent tension Magritte maintained during these years between nature and artifice, truth and fiction, reality and surreality is one of greatest achievement of his art. The Treachery of Images has become one of the most iconic images of Surrealism Movement.   This painting is the introduction to Pop Art style and has inspired many conceptual artists in the late 20th century. It is now on display at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, California, USA. 3. Joan Miró The Tilled Field, 1923-1924 Joan Miró, Surrealist Artist The panting is widely considered to be Miró’s greatest artwork along with his painting, Harlequin’s Carnival. It closely resembles the overall manner that depicts his surrealist visions. The Tilled Field was created as a Surrealist view of his family’s Catalan farm, located in Mont-roig del Camp, Catalonia. The Tilled Field, 1923-1924 The painting is dominated by muted tones of yellow and brown. It divides into three areas by two horizontal lines, perhaps representing the sky, sea, and earth – and the decorative scattering of multicolored animals throughout were most likely inspired by medieval Spanish tapestries.   This painting is the first example of Miró’s Surrealist vision. It is littered with a confused… Continue reading 10 Timeless Surrealist Paintings You Should Know