Paul Delvaux: Awakening Of The Forest

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The Belgian painter Paul Delvaux’s enthrallment with Jules Verne and his exposure to surrealism lead to the Awakening of the Forest in 1939. Delvaux, known for his female nudes in landscapes, was first exposed to the genre of surrealism through the works of Giorgio de Chirico in 1934 at the Minotaure Exhibition in Brussels. In his attempt to recreate his childhood fantasy, Delvaux literally places himself into the fantasy. Professor Otto Lidenbrock nephew, Axle, who’s face pictures to the far left of the of the canvas is rumored that Delvaux modeled Axle after himself. His childhood love for Jules Verne’s Journey to the center of the Earth led to the creation of multiple piece considered in the surrealist movement by Delvaux, including the …show more content…

The forms of the bodies depicted follow the standard human forms without much deviation. This is true until one reaches the faces. The faces feature exaggerated eyes. The eyes of the figure are enlarged to the point of uncanny, in the sense that they convey this eerie underline mood to the overall feel of the painting. This is enhanced by the paintings large size, which allows for the view to more easily become engulfed in the eyes of each of the figure in the painting. Since the face conveys so much of the emotions of the human figure, the swaying of the face to the eerie is what makes many attribute this painting to surrealism. While The Awakening of the Forest is based off Jules Verne Journey to the Center of the Earth, there are no passages in the novel that depict the scene portrayed in the work. Yet notice that the sight line of the depicted main characters, Professor Otto Lidenbrock and his nephew Axle, are not on the forest people. Professor Otto Lidenbrock is engulfed with his examination of what seems to be a fossil or rock. While Axle has an empty forward gaze, unfazed. This could be interpreted as the two explorers being blinded by their quest to the point where they had missed the skeptical immediately next to

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