Understanding surrealism paintings
Yazeed
confused. How do we actually interpret or analyse a surrealist painting to
understand it's meanings? Are the interpretations of a surreal painting the
same as a dream interpretation? If so, can a book on dream interpretations
help on the symbolic images of a surreal painting?
Francis Murphy
Yazeed wrote in message <79muv8$2c6$3...@newton.pacific.net.sg>...
Cynics would say that you interpret it however the hell you like, chuck in a
few Freudian connotations for the sake of reputability, and then try to
convince as many people as possible that /your/ interpretation is a valid
one.
Francis
MeaVe009
>confused. How do we actually interpret or analyse a surrealist painting to
>understand it's meanings? Are the interpretations of a surreal painting the
>same as a dream interpretation? If so, can a book on dream interpretations
>help on the symbolic images of a surreal painting?
I think I see the correlations your making..........the dreams and surrealism
deal with the subconscious and the images that may rise up out of it into the
conscious mind.........but, my rule of thumb is that art and any form of
expression that is being observed is open to the subjective perspective of the
observer............
Of course, it's *always* interesting, I think, to try to find out the
background of the artist and if s/he actually explained the motivation and
meaning of his or her work..............but I still think these things are
meant to conjure up reactions.....and I'd hate to think that there'd be a
patented mold for each reaction as it corresponds to each work of art =)
D.
A.A. Raimes
<a...@pacific.net.sg> writes
>I have problems understanding surrealism paintings. Most of the time I get
>confused. How do we actually interpret or analyse a surrealist painting to
>understand it's meanings? Are the interpretations of a surreal painting the
>same as a dream interpretation? If so, can a book on dream interpretations
>help on the symbolic images of a surreal painting?
Are you talking about the paintings of the Surrealist movement ? or
people who paint in a surrealist style ?
Surrealism was originally fed on poetry taking as it's leader the French
poet Andre Breton. Like many artistic movements at that time it was
based on a reaction to the world wars and the quest for absolute freedom
fed on Philosophy and Freud. Visual artists were first invited into the
group in 1921 starting Max Ernst, followed by Henri Rousseau, Joan Miro,
Salvador Dali, Rene Margueritte and the photographer Man Ray amongst
many others. It became one of the most organised and united groups of
the age and that, I think, is why so many were attracted to it.
Surrealism replaced Cubism as the spearhead of the new - the opening up
of super reality of fantasy, dream and imagination. They adopted Dada's
game of using words in random and adopted the dream sequences of Freud
whereby sex became the subject matter.
For an artist to be able to draw on the unconscious represents freedom
from this world. Art then becomes similar to meditation where the
outside world is transcended in order to draw on the inner - the
dependency being on spontaneity and autonomy - the driving forces of
twentieth century art. I think this tends to be lost in today's
*surrealists* because they attempt to deliberately portray their *dream
state* and in so doing lose the spontaneity that represents the freedom.
I suggest for reading two of the best source books are
Art in Theory 1900-1990 Harrison and Wood published by Blackwells
Theories of Modern Art Herschel Chipp Univ of California Press.
Alison A Raimes
ali...@raimes.demon.co.uk
http://www.raimes.demon.co.uk
Philip Baker
<a...@pacific.net.sg> writes
>I have problems understanding surrealism paintings. Most of the time I get
>confused. How do we actually interpret or analyse a surrealist painting to
>understand it's meanings? Are the interpretations of a surreal painting the
>same as a dream interpretation? If so, can a book on dream interpretations
>help on the symbolic images of a surreal painting?
Paintings are for looking at. Look carefully at one for a few minutes
(not just a few seconds as most people do in a gallery). If it has any
significance for you, it will reveal itself; if it doesn't, don't worry
there are plenty of other paintings and other things to do to occupy
your time.
--
Philip Baker
http://www.thalasson.com
Mudstones
>From: meav...@aol.com (MeaVe009)
>Date: Mon, Feb 8, 1999 22:56 EST
>Message-id: <19990208225643...@ng-fs1.aol.com>
>
>
>I have problems understanding surrealism paintings. Most of the time I get
>>confused. How do we actually interpret or analyse a surrealist painting to
>>understand it's meanings? Are the interpretations of a surreal painting the
>>same as a dream interpretation? If so, can a book on dream interpretations
>>help on the symbolic images of a surreal painting?
>
>I think I see the correlations your making..........the dreams and surrealism
>deal with the subconscious and the images that may rise up out of it into the
>conscious mind.........but, my rule of thumb is that art and any form of
>expression that is being observed is open to the subjective perspective of
>the
>observer............
>
NOT so.
The artist is the one who made the work of art . The best method of
finding out the meaning of the work is to ask him or her . They are the ones
who observed the internal dialogue within their minds and physical decisions
that were used to construct the work in question .
>Of course, it's *always* interesting, I think, to try to find out the
>background of the artist and if s/he actually explained the motivation and
>meaning of his or her work..............but I still think these things are
>meant to conjure up reactions.....and I'd hate to think that there'd be a
>patented mold for each reaction as it corresponds to each work of art =)
>
>D.
>
>
></PRE></HTML>
Interpretation ought NOT to be open ended .
Mudstones
>Date: Tue, Feb 9, 1999 08:37 EST
>Message-id: <GVIWyfAT...@raimes.demon.co.uk>
>In article <79muv8$2c6$3...@newton.pacific.net.sg>, Yazeed
><a...@pacific.net.sg> writes
>>I have problems understanding surrealism paintings. Most of the time I get
>>confused. How do we actually
>nterpret or analyse a surrealist painting to
>>understand it's meanings? Are the interpretations of a surreal painting the
>>same as a dream interpretation? If
>so, can a book on dream interpretations
>>help on the symbolic images of a surreal painting?
>Are you talking about the paintings of the Surrealist movement ? or
>people who paint in a surrealist style ?
>
>
>Surrealism was originally fed on poetry taking as it's leader the French
>poet Andre Breton.
It is debatable whether the literary surrealists all recognized Andre
Breton as their leader .
Louis Aragon seemed to have pioneered a different direction in the genre
of surrealist poetry than Andre Breton .
It has been argued also that French philosopher and writer Paul Valery
may have been a proto-surrealist to some extent [at least employing
surealist style and theme in some of his writings ] .
[ Paul Valery also intermittently made illustrations that were
inscribed in his books . A case in point being his anomalous colophon that
were inscribed in his books that showed a snake coiled around a key ]
Andre Breton's leadership over the school of artists that were
called surrealists or christened surrealists by others is questionable also
when one considers the role of writers such as the French writer : Anton
Artraud or the German poet Richard Hulsenbeck [two men who wrote of
surrealistic themes in a surrealistic style ] .
In the visual arts Andre Breton 's tutelage was NOT monolithic
either .
About a decade or more prior to the bulk Andre Breton's
writings being published and printed , Franz Kupka [a Czechoslavakian
painter ] made paintings that might be called proto-surrealist due to
their distribution of imagery and the themes inherent in such imagery seemed
more emblematic of the surrealist movement than the Symbolist movement ,
to which most of the early work of Franz Kupka belongs .
Paul Klee , the German surrealist visual artist , seemed
to have marginal stylistic and thematic commonalities with the surrealist
circle to which Andre Breton was a pivotal figure .
A.A. Raimes
Once again there is the confusion between the group that called
themselves the *Surrealists* and those who adopted the style as a mark
of the times. The Surrealist Movement was a structured and manifesto
backed group of artists and writers which invited members to
participate. That is not to say there were not the subsidiary groups
throughout Europe that you have cited but just to clarify what the
Surrealist movement was and who was chiefly responsible for its
development. Let us for argument sakes call Breton the principal
theoretician then. The marking of its importance was recognised as the
major exhibition which opened in London in 1936 by Andre Breton.