Metamorphosis Of Narcissus - Salvador Dali

The painting Metamorphosis of Narcissus

was created in 1937 by oil on canvas by Salvador Dali. This painting uses

a lot of images to say what it means, for example, a person, a hand, water,

a starving dog, a chess board, a canyon or cliff, and people. This is not

to fill the paper or distract the viewer from the suggested meaning or

point, but to support the idea that hope and despair are reflections of

one another; on opposite sides of a coin, spinning in mid-air, waiting

to land and fix or destroy everything.

The first thing that one thinks upon first

seeing it, from far away, is that Dali just painted the same thing twice.

From afar, it appears as if he simply cut the canvas down the middle and

made one side brown and the other blue, but on closer inspection, one sees

that the two sides, although very similar, are nothing alike.

On one side, there sits a limp body staring

at the reflection of herself in the water that she sinks in. The setting

sun glistens off the back of her head, but she just wallows in grim depression

and boredom. The canyons trap her in the barren wasteland as she sits motionless,

without movement, struggle, or life. This mysterious figure looks so vacant

that it might as well be dead. Nothing is happening on this side, so one's

attention is directed to the other.

On the other side, a blue decaying hand

emerges from the ground with ants crawling on it, possibly making their

homes in it or finding food on it. Atop this pedestal, rests an egg with

a flower sprouting from it. This display of life emerging from the dead

is a symbol of hope and beauty. To the left of the hand, a very unhealthy

malnourished dog feasts on fresh meat; his salvation is handed to him and

he survives. Behind the dog is a chess board with a young man in the middle

of it, proudly surveying the battlefield as though it were his kingdom.

To his left are people on a road that leads off into the horizon. All these

things symbolize new beginnings out of old life and hope from death.

The message that Salvador Dali was trying

to get across is that hope and despair, failure and victory, and life and

death are all equal forces, each one pulling the other in an eternal war

to balance everything. It's all a cycle, and like all cycles, it repeats

itself forever and ever, and there's no way of having one without the other.

Guemi...

... middle of paper ...

...es. Texture is kept to a minimum

in the specific work as it is a very two dimensional art work and as is

common of the cubism style. He has made extremely good use of space as

nearly the entire canvas is used, while maintaining the balance which is

necessary to keep the composition aesthetically pleasing. Among the many

symbolic images in the work are a bull, a horse a soldier with a broken

sword and a woman looking out of a window with a very concerned look on

her face. The broken sword in the soldiers hand, which can be seen at the

bottom center of the composition was used to symbolize the broken spirits

and the failure to resist on the part of the people. The woman is a symbol

of concern for the fighting people by people who have succeeded in being

able to see the whole picture.

The largest contributing factor to "Guernica's"

overall appeal is the excellent use of symbolism which encourages it's

audience to think. If ever given the opportunity I would be most interested

in seeing the original of this work. I have gained a lot of respect for

not only the artistic integrity of this painting, but also for Pablo Picasso

as an overall intuitive and creative person.