Modernisms 1900-1980
Course: Modernisms 1900-1980 > Unit 5
Lesson 2: Surrealism- Surrealism, an introduction
- The Case for Surrealism
- Surrealism: Origins and Precursors
- Surrealism and Psychoanalysis
- Surrealist Techniques: Automatism
- Surrealist Techniques: Subversive Realism
- Surrealist Techniques: Collage
- Surrealist Photography
- Surrealist Exhibitions
- Surrealism and Women
- Man Ray, The Gift
- Magritte, The Treachery of Images (Ceci n’est pas une pipe)
- Conservation | René Magritte, "The Portrait," 1935
- Dali, The Persistence of Memory
- Dali, Metamorphosis of Narcissus
- Giacometti, The Palace at 4am
- Meret Oppenheim, Object (Fur-covered cup, saucer, and spoon)
- Meret Oppenheim, Object (Fur-covered cup, saucer, and spoon)
- André Masson, Battle of Fishes
- Oppenheim, Object
- Giorgio de Chirico, "The Anxious Journey"
- Room: 1930s
- Surrealism
- Room: 1940s
Dali, Metamorphosis of Narcissus
Salvador Dalí, Metamorphosis of Narcissus, 1937, oil on canvas, 51.1 x 78.1 cm (Tate Modern, London) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker
The ancient source of this subject is Ovid's Metamorphosis (Book 3, lines 339-507) tells of Narcissus who upon seeing his own image reflected in a pool so falls in love that he could not look away, eventually he vanishes and in his place is a "sweet flower, gold and white, the white around the gold."
Dalí's poem, below, accompanied the painting when it was initially exhibited:
Narcissus,
in his immobility,
absorbed by his reflection with the digestive slowness of carnivorous plants,
becomes invisible.
There remains of him only the hallucinatingly white oval of his head,
his head again more tender,
his head, chrysalis of hidden biological designs,
his head held up by the tips of the water's fingers,
at the tips of the fingers
of the insensate hand,
of the terrible hand,
of the mortal hand
of his own reflection.
When that head slits
when that head splits
when that head bursts,
it will be the flower,
the new Narcissus,
Gala - my Narcissus
. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.Want to join the conversation?
- I am captivated by the multiple background details. Two in particular seem very significant but I don't think they are discussed in the video: Do the central group of figures and the pool both 'reflect' Narcissus? Does the dog that seems to be rooting up a grave also reflect Narcisissus, maybe his morbid obsession?(18 votes)
- The pool does represent Narcissus, yes, but as for the people and the dog I am not sure.(4 votes)
- Why do you think he painted those ants there? What could he have been saying there? 2:41(6 votes)
- He often used ants in his paintings. I found this: http://www.daliparis.com/english/dalinian-symbolics.html(3 votes)
- Atthere is a close up of the painting, in the top left hand corner there is a statue on a red box on black and white checkered tile. What does this statue represent? 0:55(3 votes)
- Would there being any technical name for this mirroring effect? Also is the mirroring suppose to represent duality or progress? Although I know its called the metamorphosis which leads me to believe it represents progress I can't help but see it as a implication from left to right of how narcissism to slight degree can give one hope and a positive self-image but how it can also ruin and leave you be desolate and alone on another spectrum.(1 vote)
- That's an interesting comment about a dual interpretation for Narcissism. I don't know what the technical name of the mirroring is, but mirroring is a major psychological/counselling technique, allowing the other to see themselves. In the video the commentators are at pains to explain that Dali was attempting to hold both his rational consciousness with his irrational unconscious; his classical technique being used to image irrational states of mind. He called this Paranoid Critical Activity.
One could suggest in the myth of Narcissus that his demise was brought about by indulging an unhealthy psychological state. The progress you suggest is that by so doing one may be transformed. I am not sure whether this is progress but perhaps a necessity. The suggestion is that a neurotic/psychotic state of mind instead of being resisted or suppressed needs to be allowed to express itself and this will eventually lead to a signficant transformation.(3 votes)
- Guys when i searched this it said why did Salvador Dali paint ants on his painting but this doesn't talk about ants so im confused!(1 vote)