Giuseppe Arcimboldo: An Original Artist

Vertumnus by Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Giuseppe Arcimboldo was a creative italian painter who made artwork like no one else of his time. He was born in Milan in the year 1527 and died on July 11th, 1953. He was 66 years old when he passed and lived in Milan for most of his life. In 1562, he was named court portraitist to Ferdinand I in Vienna. In 1570 he became head portraitist of Maximilian II and Rudolph II in Prague. Some people argue that he was mentally unstable for creating such strange paintings. Others find his work fascinating and whimsicle. His work was normally portraits of people made out of fruits, vegetables, books, and other household items. Giuseppe arranged all the items in his paintings so that they closely resembled what he was actually looking at. They are very memorable and he was extremely talented.

There are so many different things in this painting. The things that seem to stand out the most are the large pumpkin taking up a big part of the chest and the cherries that make the lips. One shoulder is a cabbage and the other is an artichoke. The eyebrows are made of peas and the beard and hair constist of many things, but mostly grapes. Near the bottom of the painting, there are many flowers that could represent the clothing. The last few things that stand out are the pear representing the nose and the apples, corn stalks, and cherries on the top of the head. Everything works out and fits so nicely that this painting looks exactly like a man, and at first glance it might not even be noticeable that he is made out of fruit and vegetables.

I think that Giuseppe was a child artchetype. He seems to have had a fun personality and was very creative. The ideas he had could easily be something a child could think of, but not always an adult. He didn't stay inside the box. This painting could represent a rebirth. The person is not made out of any human things at all, but only fruits, vegetables, and flowers. It could represent something being very pure and natural. Giuseppe may have been a nature child arcehtype because he was so fascinated with organic items.

I wonder how many people think that his work is strange and came from a warped mind, and how many people find it creative in a beautiful way.

"Christ of Saint John of the Cross,"

Salvador Dali was a famous painter in the 1900's. He paints an assortment of types of pictures. The painting is held in Kelvingrove, Scotland. Dali was born in 1904 and died in 1989. He was widely. recognized for his wild imagination and creativity. In this painting "Christ of Saint John of the Cross" which he made in 1951, shows Jesus nailed to the Cross in the sky. The painting is stunning, it takes a lot of talent to do something like that. I have a lot of respect for Mr. Dali and his artistic abilities. His inspiration for the piece came from a dream that depicted Jesus on the cross, according to Wikipedia. Underneath him there is some fishermen in a pond. It seems as if Jesus is looking down on the men or the angle he is in portrays that. Also the background behind Jesus is very dark. I don't know how religious Mr. Dali is, but it seemed like he made this out to be a bad dream. Being a Christian, I would think this would be a good dream where Jesus would be backgrounded by a light colored sky with sunshine, because Jesus is the light of our life and I would not picture him with a dark backgrounds, in my own opinion; people's views on the catholic religion vary from person to person.

Some different archetypes I noticed in the picture was the dark sky which I do not comprehend. Anyone have any ideas about what the dark sky could represent? Also I noticed the water with the fishermen. A bigger water source like that could stand for freedom which I feel like people could find that in Jesus Christ. Many people turn to religion to find that extra love they need in their life. Christianity accepts everyone, they do not judge if you follow the religion correctly.

I also thought about the fishermen in the painting. Why would fishermen ever be in a picture with Jesus on the Cross? I thought about all the times you see a fish on the back of someone's car. A bumper sticker. Called an Ichthys, more commonly referred as "the Jesus Fish." Ichthys translates into "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior." I feel this could be what the fishermen represent in Dali's dream that they are fishing for, metaphorically.

Swans Reflecting Elephants by Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali, was born in May of 1904. His surrealist ideas led him to creating, his best know work to be striking and bizarre. According to wikipedia, Dali was highly imaginative and also had and affinity for partaking in unusual and grandiose behavior. This painting is most known for the swans reflecting elephants. However, you can find elephants throughout his line of work. Gian Lorenzo Bernini inspired Dail to paint the elephants. " I am painting pictures which make me die for joy, I am creating with an absolute naturalness, without the slightest aesthetic concern, I am making things the inspire me with a profound emotion and I am trying to paint them honestly." -Salvador Dali, in Dawn Ades, Dali and surrealism.

In this painting, I think the swans mean his love of his creativity. The close relationship between the swan and the water, can show his connnection between his dreams and his happiness, and how everything flows like the swan, in nature. The elephants show that hes honored of what he has created. The edge of the water shows the trees replacing the elephant legs and body. The trees may mean death, or extintion of the elephant. I say this becasue the elephants may show the past and how there used to be more there but now there are only swans, because the wateriung hole is to small.

In the rock, he painted himself looking away from the painting, maybe becasue he did not want people taking his painting literally. Wikipedia, states that he did this becasue he was frusterated with the type of audience the surrealist movement was attracting.

Salvador Dali's Dream

The Dream

By Salvador Dali

Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali was born in 1904, and he passed away in 1989. According to Wikipedia, Dali's mother was always a huge supporter of her son's artistic interests, but his father was not. Dali was known for his eccentric behavior and limitless imagination, which could be seen throughout all of his artwork. He was influenced by various styles and particularly used techniques of the modernist and classical sorts, when creating his pieces. To this day, Dali is considered to be a prominent figure in the history of modernism.

In 1937, Dali painted a piece he called, The Dream. The Dream deals with the world of dreams, which was a popular topic among surrealists. In the picture, there is a large head that is being supported by crutches. The suspended head's eyes are closed, and it seems to be falling forward. This represents one "falling" into a deep sleep. The head, however, is being held up with the help of the crutches. The crutches represent reality. When one is asleep, he or she is almost transported into another world. However, it is that touch with reality that keeps us from completely "falling". The head is also soft, which implies the vulnerability that overcomes us when we are asleep. The light blue sky is soft, peaceful, and has a dream-like quality to it. Dreams are a combination of what's real and wherever our minds decide to go. While the sky is dreamy, the house/structure in the background serves as a symbol of the realism that is present in dreams. I am not sure, though, what the significance is of the dog on the left side. Any thoughts?

Swans Reflecting Elephants, By: Salvador Dali

According to Painting Analysis and Interpretations, Swans Reflecting Elephants is one of Salvador Dali's classic masterpeices that made his double sided paintings a collectors item. This is an oil painting that Dali made in 1937. In this painting there are three swans in a pond and their reflections are elephants. The neck of the swan is the trunk and head of the elephant. The rest of the elephant is made up from the trees and brush on the bank behind the swans. I think that resmbles the creativity behind Salvador Dali's work. Everything in this painting is flowy, it's so relaxing and just makes you think. On the left you can see a man facing toward the outside of the painting, as I read on Wikipedia, Dali put himself in there to show his frustration with the type of audiance the surrealist movement was attracting. He tried making illusions with his paintings and succeeded greatly. His weirdness and corkiness stands out. I think Salvador Dali portrays the Artist archetype because he expresses things in his artwork that the normal human would not have thought of. His paintings make it possible for you to see the hallucinatory form of art. I wonder what he was thinking when he was painting this peice and I also want to know what made his mind think up something so bizzaire?

Garden

Garden in Giverny is the name of this painting. Claude Monet has painted it. He lived in Paris where this garden was. The person who inspired him to paint outdoors was Eugene Boudin. There is a walk way to the house. The path has many flowers and plants on both sides. It is very colorful and happy looking. There are also a lot of trees surrounding the path. I think it makes it look beautiful and secretive. I think this painting is beautiful because it has many colors and it's like a hidden house away from the rest of the world. It is hidden in it's own little garden. Monet had people close to him in his life die and at one time after someone had died he rented a house at Giverny and later bought it. I think he painted gardens a lot because gardens represent peace and harmony and I think he was constantly looking for that so I think he painted gardens to somehow feel that sense of peace. Gardens also represent love and beauty and I believe that is what Monet wanted so that could be another reason he painted the Giverny garden a lot and other places in the garden. All the many colors could represent the happiness he was feeling and the house hiding a little could be him hiding away from the world. Maybe the path could represent something too?






























http://www.biography.com/impressionists/monet-bio.jsp

http://giverny.org/monet/biograph/

sunset tree

this piece of art says many things to me, one is that its very colorful and to me it has a very happy, tranquil feeling to it. I look at it and it makes me want summer to be here again, so i could expeirence this myself. another thing i notice is that the tree is many different colors, some not so happy, i might be reading too far into it but the tree goes from a very happy set of colors, to a dark side. In a way, this makes me feel like the artist might have a dark side, or a bad past that he isnt happy about. On the other hand it could just be the shadow from the sunset. either way, wether this picture has a hidden meaning or not, i stil enjoy it.