virtual field trip essay submit assignment
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WYQYUhAUCfM013gI6M9cBJa8gZl6lM56LLqo1MTSB6U/edit?usp=sharing
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AHIS 2: The History of Western Art
3 January 2015
The Nightmare and The Persistence of Memory
As the centuries have come and gone, we have been quite fortunate to enjoy art that is continually changing. This comparison essay will give some insight into how art has stayed the same. The first piece, The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli (Johann Heinrich Fussli), is an oil on canvas completed in 1781 in the Romantic style, measuring 3’4″ x 4’2″. This piece was first exhibited in 1782 at the Royal Academy of London, it now resides at the Detroit Institute of Art. The second piece, The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali (Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dali i Domenech), is an oil on canvas completed in 1931. This surrealist painting was first unveiled at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York City, 1932. The piece is only about as big as a piece of printer paper measuring 9″ x 1’1″. This work is on display at the Museum of Modern Art, also in New York. These pieces represent the very nearly identical way of thinking through the ages; our fears, hopes, memories. Countless pieces have been created, from paintings to buildings (architecture), which give us a glimpse of life for the person that created it. Although these pieces were made by different people at different times, the overall image is relatively the same. From Fuseli’s demon to Dali’s clock. It is clear after studying these pieces that art may have changed drastically in medium and style but the deeper meaning and purpose stay the same throughout history.
(The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli, 1781. Detroit Institute of Art.)
Fuseli’s The Nightmare, which is considered his best-known piece, was completed during the Romantic period, in 1781 after the Industrial Revolution, during a time of pain and suffering for the lower class that worked in factories. As a rebellion to the order and balance of neoclassicism, artists began to depict emotion over all else; art became more about the emotions triggered by a piece and less about the actual subject. Fuseli’s piece depicts a woman sleeping with a demon on top of her chest and a horse’s head with empty eyes in the background. This work features a very dramatic scene. Movement can be perceived in the horse peaking in and the demon pressing down on the woman. Fuseli also utilized chiaroscuro, the woman being brightly colored against the dark red velvet curtains, which was common in romantic art. Romanticism focused on emotion, this piece has plenty. The woman appears to be in a state of euphoria, the demon looks as if it was just caught doing something bad, and the horse has a smile, as if it is laughing at a private joke. The scantily clad woman seems to represents our vulnerability while sleeping. The demon may resemble sleep paralysis, which was thought to be caused by demons. The horse may just be a satirical representation of nightmares; it was not in the original charcoal drawing for this painting, although Fuseli added it later(Knowles 64). We cannot be sure of the exact thoughts Fuseli had as he painted The Nightmare, as he has never commented on his motivations. Artist of Romanticism often used emotion and exotic imagery to rebel against the rationalization of Neoclassicism, the barely dressed woman and the sexuality of the piece are evidence of that rebellion.
(The Persistence of Time by Salvador Dali, 1931. Museum of Modern Art.)
Surrealism has been described as art focused on dreams with depictions of “realistic forms in fantastical context.” Dali expressed that his reason for joining the surrealist movement was a “reaction against the “integral revolution” released by the post-war dilettante anxiety”.(250). Determined to create what he wanted, Dali saw surrealism as an “adequate outlet” to express himself.(250) In creating this piece, Dali started with a landscape of Port Lligat. He then “saw” the image of soft watches and proceeded to create them on the canvas, a process that took only two hours.(Dali 317) The watches were inspired by melting Camembert cheese, there is speculation that the deeper meaning of the watches is Einstein’s Theory of Relativity but Dali himself has said it is not. Dali also incorporated ants into this piece, as he did in many others, crawling on the pocket watch in the lower left corner. The ants may be representing decay, perhaps the decay of humanism as a result of so much death from war. Dali was known to be anti-war and often reflected this in his art. The form in the center of the painting is Dali himself, he often painted himself as a deformed figure; this may be a result of his thoughts that he “was not normal”.(222) The watch placed on top of the figure in the middle may represent the weight of dreams on one’s psyche. Surrealism is quite evident in this piece, from the melted watches to the disfigured form to the ants. Symbolism was used abundantly in surrealism to depict dreams, making it hard to determine the meaning of a piece without some knowledge of the artist themselves. Dali saw surrealism as a way to get people to remember him and his work; his need to be seen and recognized may be a result of him being a “spoiled child”.(2) Julien Levy bought this piece from Dali; Levy told him that his art was “non-public and unsalable”, and he intended to keep the piece in his private collection.(Dali 318) Now Dali is now considered a master of the surrealist movement and The Persistence of Memory is one of the most iconic pieces of the Surrealist Movement.
The two pieces are drastically different, yet quite intriguingly the same; both depict a dream state in which the main subject is being held down by the dream itself. The fact that both pieces show the main subject with a dream piece on top of them, Dali’s watch and Fuseli’s demon, may be representing our inability to overcome our own thoughts and fears. Both Fuseli and Dali represent their version of a dream using symbolism that has been speculated on since the creation of the pieces. Both works were considered strange or odd to most people in their time periods, yet both have been used throughout history for various reasons, from clothing to satirical comic strips. Although the styles are different as well as the subjects, the underlying meaning is quite shockingly similar. Dreams are a place of hope, memory and fear and this is depicted by both artists. Hope is represented by Fuseli in the lightness of the woman and Dali uses the blue skies. Memory is shown by Dali as the image of Port Lligat, where he spent time, and Fuseli includes the furniture that is in style at the time. Fear is obvious in Fuseli’s work, as the demon and the horse both are representative of fear, while Dali has used the dead olive tree that may signify a fear of dying, as trees live forever compared to man. Lastly, Dali has included watches that may signify the fact that we only have so much time and we need to embrace that. Fuseli’s use of the empty eyed horse may be his way of showing us the unknown, and how fearful it can be. These pieces are separated by 150 years, yet they represent much of the same thing, it is quite intriguing to look at history and see how humans have repeated and recreated past cultures and styles.
Although these pieces are similar in their meaning and message, they are very different in style. Fuseli created very realistic subjects in The Nightmare, where Dali created things no one had ever seen before. The image of melting watches made little to no sense to most people. Fuseli created an image of a familiar place, a bedroom, while Dali chose a landscape that is nearly alien in comparison. Fuseli’s image shows much less detail then Dali does, which is very interesting. Fuseli created The Nightmare as a large wall painting; Dali, on the other hand, created a very small piece, many are surprised at how small it actually is. It is a wonder how Dali got so much detail on such a small canvas.
I have always had a fascination with art as a storytelling device, there is no better way to tell a story than visually. The humanities have given us an abundance of stories, the hard part is trying to decipher the details after the original storytellers are gone. Works that were considered controversial when they were completed are now considered masterpieces. I can imagine Fuseli’s shock at his work being placed in museums around the world or Dali laughing maniacally over all the praise for his non-public art. As a history major, I am very interested in the humanities. While studying the humanities it has occurred to me that the this is our history, the history of humans. I hope to one day get the opportunity to help determines a piece’s meaning and underlying secrets, revealing new masters of the arts for the next generation. I feel that to be a great historian I need to consider the people of a time period and not just what rebellion, or revolution, or invention, that comes out of it; all these things are produced by the people that were there. To understand their purpose or reasoning we need to understand the social atmosphere of the time. Once you have the pieces you can then begin to put together the puzzle that is our history.
The Nightmare and The Persistence of Memory are two pieces, from two time periods, that appreciated two different styles of art. Yet, Fuseli and Dali have both depicted humanistic fear, hope and imagination in quite similar fashion. Like in many aspects of history, art too tends to be repeated and re-imagined through the ages. Fuseli and Dali are considered masters of their styles, it is apparent in these two images why they are considered so. As storytellers, Fuseli and Dali may never be completely understood, but, after much study I am convinced that the deep meaning in art, music, and all other facets of documentation are much the same through history; no matter the…
