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By:Paula Valle
For my comparative study Im focusing on surrealism, and the meaning behind different
surrealism works of art. For this I will be comparing the works of Max Ernst, Salvador Dali and
Michele Parliament. Surrealism was always my favorite art movement, but I learned more
about it my junior year when I was looking for artist connections, because of this some of my
artworks are based on the Surrealism movement. Michele Parliament is a local artist I found
and was fascinated with her work, my last art piece is going to be inspired by one of her
artworks.
Surrealism
A 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and
literature that sought to release the creative
potential of the unconscious mind, for example by
the irrational juxtaposition of images. Surrealism
was created in Paris by writers and artist, in the
late 1910s and the early 1920s. Surrealism tried
to show the power of imagination of the
subconscious. The first visual artist that started
working with surrealist techniques were German
Max Ernst, French Andre Masson, Spaniard Joan
Miro, and American Man Ray. Other famous artist
that have worked with surrealist techniques are
Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte.
Max Ernst
Max Ernst was born in 1891 in Bruhl, Germany. He
was best known for his unconscious for dreamlike
imagery that mocked social conventions. He was a
soldier in World War I, which traumatized Ernst of the
western culture. Ernst's artistic vision, showed
strongly in his Dada and Surrealists works. He spend
most of his life in France, during WWII Ernst was a
refugee in the United States and was categorized as
an "enemy alien". His work surrealist technique is still
very influential to this day. He later on died in 1976 in
Paris, France.
Salvador Dali
Salvador Dal was born on May 11, 1904, in
Figueres, Spain. From an early age, Dal was
encouraged to practice his art and would eventually
go on to study at an academy in Madrid. In the
1920s, he went to Paris and started working with
artists such as Picasso, Magritte and Mir, which
inspired Dal's first Surrealist phase. He is best
known for his 1931 painting The Persistence of
Memory, showing melting clocks in a landscape
setting. The rise of fascist leader Francisco Franco
in Spain led to the artist's expulsion from the
Surrealist movement, which didnt stop Dali from
painting. He later on died in Figueres in 1989.
Michele Parliament
Born on 1966 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She always
had a passion for art but when she was 18 she was
forced by her mother to go to nursing school. She
kept drawing all her life and when she got to her 50s
she decided to go to MIAD, she defines herself as a
art school dropout since she dropped out during
second semester but she still has had 25 shows and
she mentioned in her blog that even though she didnt
finish art school going to MIAD opened up a lot of
doors to her. She works with acrylic paint and also
works a lot with photoshop resulting in having many
digital collages. Most of her work is surrealism but she
also has portraits and figure drawings/paintings of the
women figure.
Max Ernst
Yellow represents
sunshine so theres not
that much yellow
The sky is
starting to
turn dark to
show the
rough times
people go
through
during war
Monstrous Face:
the painting shows
a sign of
protectiveness by
having angel in the
title but in reality it
s a violent creature
Salvador Dali
Different brown
tones:
Brown is a
warm color that
represents
appetite in this
case the
appetite for
power and
destruction
Michele Parliament
Dark clouds
at the top to
show rough
times, but
dark clouds
eventually go
away so its
showing that
the rough
times in life
arent
permanent
Michele Parliament
Holding hands to
represent
protectiveness
and that
countries should
stick together
through dark
times
Ernst
Vs.
Dali
Ernst
Ernst uses a
combination
colors from
cool to warm
but in bright
manner
For the painting
he is working
with oil paints .
He created
more of actual
surrealist
looking
creatures
Vs.
Parliament
Dali
Vs.
Dali is showing
the destruction,
death and the
hunger for
power between
people during a
war (The
violence during
war)
Parliament
Parliament is
showing
protectiveness
by having two
people from
different
countries
holding hands
(Peace after
war)
Beautiful Life
I used all three of Ernsts, Dalis and Parliament's artworks as inspiration to create this art piece.
Since all three of them have a different take of war shown in their artworks, I wanted to
incorporate all three of them in one. I showed the monstrous side, the destruction between
humans and the protectiveness side.
Max Ernst
Similarities:
Salvador Dali
Similarities:
Differences:
Michele Parliament
Similarities:
Parliaments digital piece shows the alliance
between two halves of the world, this is shown
through the holding of the hands. The holding of
the hands also symbolize protectiveness.
In my piece Im trying to show protectiveness by
the human hand that is trying to reach out to the
world and help it from all the dangers.
Differences:
The shadow of the monstrous hand that is trying
to destroy the planet already reached it since
the finger tip is touching the rupture the bullet
made, while the hand that is trying to protect it
hasnt reached it at all. Parliaments just shows
protectiveness and not destruction.
She uses neutral tones while I use cool bright
tones
Parliament=Digital Manipulation
My work=Watercolor Painting