The New Psychology and the Visual Arts

Expressionism Using violently distorted forms and bright colors to express a particular emotion

SPARTA! Edvard Munch The Scream 1893 Krakatau eruption turned the sky red. Face possibly from a mummy exhibit that was in town Sources of inspiration The original German title given to the work by Munch was Der Schrei der Natur. The Norwegian word skrik is usually translated as scream, but is cognate with the English shriek. Occasionally, the painting has been called The Cry. In a page in his diary headed Nice 22.01.1892, Munch described his inspiration for the image thus: “ I was walking along a path with two friends—the sun was setting—suddenly the sky turned blood red—I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence—there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city—my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety—and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature. ” The reddish sky in the background was possibly caused by the aftermath of the powerful volcanic eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. The ash that was ejected from the volcano left the sky tinted red in much of eastern United States and most of Europe and Asia from November 1883 to February 1884.[3] The person in the foreground may be the artist himself, not screaming but protecting himself or itself from the scream of Nature. Thus, the position in which he portrays himself could be considered a reflex reaction typical of anyone struggling to keep out distressing noise, whether actual or imagined. The scene was identified as being the view from a road overlooking Oslo, the Oslofjord and Hovedøya, from the hill of Ekeberg. At the time of painting the work, Munch's manic depressive sister Laura Catherine was interned in the mental hospital at the foot of Ekeberg. In 1978, the renowned Munch scholar Robert Rosenblum suggested that the strange, sexless creature in the foreground of the painting was probably inspired by a Peruvian mummy, which Munch could have seen at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. This mummy, which was crouching in a fetal position with its hands alongside its face, also struck the imagination of Munch's friend Paul Gauguin: it stood model for the central figure in his painting Human misery (Grape harvest at Arles) and for the old woman at the left in his painting Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?. More recently, an Italian anthropologist speculated that Munch might have seen a mummy in Florence's Museum of Natural History which bears an even more striking resemblance to the painting.[4]

Edvard Munch Madonna 1893 The title suggests a depiction of Mary, the mother of Jesus, although it is a highly unusual representation of Mary, who until the 20th century was usually represented in high art as a chaste, mature woman.[citation needed] The figure in this painting appears to be young, perhaps a teenager, and is sensualized, if not eroticized, by her twisting, expressive pose. She stretches her arms behind herself and arches her back, increasing the viewer's consciousness of her physical body. Yet even in this unusual pose, she embodies some of the key elements of canonical representations of the Virgin: she has a quietness and a calm confidence about her. Her eyes are closed, expressing modesty, but she is simultaneously lit from above; her body is seen, in fact, twisting toward the light so as to catch more of it, even while she does not face it with her eyes. These elements suggest aspects of conventional representations of the Annunciation. See also: Madonna (art).

Metaphysical Art A dream world where objects exist beyond physical reality

The Nostalgia of the Infinite 1914, Oil on canvase Giorgio de Chirico The Nostalgia of the Infinite 1914, Oil on canvase Contradictory perspectives – orthogonals do not point to horizon Unnatural colors Irregular shadows

Marc Chagall I and the Village 1911, Oil on canvas Intense color usage Sizes and positions don’t make sense Some objects defy gravity

The Dada Movement A challenge to the very nature of art WWI makes them think the world is irrational or mad Deliberately violates good taste, values, and artistic convention “dada” came from group of artists sticking a knife into a dictionary

Marcel Duchamp Fountain (Urinal) 1917, Ready-made Not art because he made it, but because he removed it from the context of everyday life and gave it a new identity Submitted and rejected to American Society of Independent Artists Fake name used

Rectified ready-made pencil on a reproduction of the Mona Lisa Marcel Duchamp L.H.O.O.Q. 1919 Rectified ready-made pencil on a reproduction of the Mona Lisa In 1919, Duchamp made a parody of the Mona Lisa by adorning a cheap reproduction of the painting with a mustache and goatee. To this he added the rude inscription L.H.O.O.Q., a pun which, when read out loud in French, sounds like "Elle a chaud au cul". This can be translated as "She has a hot ass", implying that the woman in the painting is in a state of sexual excitement and availability. It may also have been intended as a Freudian joke, referring to Leonardo da Vinci's alleged homosexuality. LHOOQ when sounded out in French is lusty street slang Detests Western High Art and proclaims the artist as a maverick

Surrealism Devoted to expressing in conscious life the workings of the unconscious mind Strongly influenced by Freud Confusing & startling images like those in dreams

Pablo Picasso Seated Woman 1927, Oil on wood Image of a split personality One frontal view and at least two profile views

Joan Miro, The Tilled Field 1923, oil on canvas

Person Throwing a Stone at a Bird 1926, oil on canvas Biomorphic A child’s view of a dream world Joan Miro Person Throwing a Stone at a Bird 1926, oil on canvas

Joan Miro Miro’s Chicago Mixed media sculpture

Rene Magritte The False Mirror 1928, Oil on canvas A detailed eye reflecting what the eye sees. Where the CBS logo comes from Rene Magritte The False Mirror 1928, Oil on canvas

Rene Magritte Time Transfixed 1938, Oil on canvas

Salvador Dali Dreams and fantasies, often erotic Meticulous precision Unusual settings Grotesque attributes

Salvador Dali The Persistence of Memory (1931) It is possible to recognize a human figure in the middle of the composition, in the strange "monster" that Dalí used in several period pieces to represent himself - the abstract form becoming something of a self portrait, reappearing frequently in his work. The orange clock at the bottom left of the painting is covered in ants. Dali often used ants in his paintings as a symbol for death. Another source, a book called Salvador Dali tells us that the one clock was about the difficulties of birth, while another clock is to show the trauma of pre-birth.[clarification needed] In general the tree means life, but, in this case, it has the same function as the rest of the elements in the picture: to impress anxiety and, in a certain way, terror, although it is likely that it was conceived as a functional element on which to drape one of the watches. The golden cliffs in the upper right hand corner are reminiscent of Dalí's homeland, Catalonia, and are derived from the rocks and cliffs at Cape Creus, where the Pyrenees meet the sea.[1] Salvador Dali The Persistence of Memory (1931)

Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War) (1936) is a painting by Spanish Surrealist Salvador Dalí. Depicted is a grimacing dismembered figure symbolic of the Spanish state in civil war, alternately grasping upward at itself and holding itself down underfoot, a relationship morbidly prescient of Escher's later Drawing Hands (1948). The painting resides at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The painting, which was painted in 1936, is used to show the struggle of war that can sometimes be both self-fulfilling and self-mutilating at the same time. Despite his controversial support of Franco, Dalí was openly against war, and used this painting to show it. The boiled beans may refer to the ancient Catalan offering to the gods. The little man in the bottom left corner is a representation of the astonishing, awe-inspiring spirits contained in the souls of Anneke and Nikki van Lugo, childhood friends and muses of Dalí. Salvador Dali Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War), 1936

The picture shows a fruit on or in a wine glass The picture shows a fruit on or in a wine glass. A human face (which would be seen again in one of Dalí's later works, The Endless Enigma) is seen below the fruit, the handle of the wine glass acting as the face's nose bridge. The texture of the face is the sand of the beach. On the sand is a cloth and a snapped rope. There is also a dog across the background of the painting. Salvador Dali The Apparition of the Face and Fruit Dish on a Beach (1938)

Salvador Dali Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of a New Man (1943)

Frida Kahlo The Broken Column 1944, Oil on canvas Female form as something offer than the object of male desire Marxist Bus accident, 30 surgeries, leg amputated Miscarriages, left infertile A lonely desolate figure stands in a lonely desolate landscape. The broken column is her shattered spine and her body is held together by the steel corset she was forced to wear. The pins obviously represent her mental and physical pain and the tear stained face says it all. There have been many fanciful interpretations put on this painting, but the picture speaks for itself: “I still want to live, my friends, but how much more can I take?” Never in the history of art has there been a more powerful portrayal of human loneliness and despair.

Object: Breakfast in Fur 1936, Fur-covered cup, saucer, and spoon Combining commonplace objects in a way that was shocking everyday objects arranged as such that they allude to female sexuality and feminine exploitation by the opposite sex. Meret Oppenheim Object: Breakfast in Fur 1936, Fur-covered cup, saucer, and spoon