Elements of René Magritte's Golconda


                                                         Golconda, 1953, Oil on Canvass


    20th century surrealist René Magritte's Golconda illustrates near-identical men in the fore, mid and background all of whom wear similar pieces of clothing. Some of these articles are chatacteristic of Magritte, born at the turn of the century and a recognizable figure in during the Surrealism period. Surrealists such as Magritte take the ordinary and make something unconventional and rather bizarre. Doves depicted across hidden faces, or faces clothed and kissing, these personal touches of the artist are complemented with his sharp vivid lines and deep black colors found in long coats and curved bowler caps. His work often utilizes tone to portray depth in images, but more strong does it create dramatic spatial relationships between objects, and feelings of uneasiness. 

The common use of blacks opposed to lighter colors emphasizes the discomforting nature of his subjects, albeit the lighter colors often come with everyday items such as birds, or clouds. In this way color is less symbolic, and more of a mode to force ones focus on the dramatic. 

Lastly, with textured clouds, clothes and objects do the works of Magritte truly come to life in the slight faces depicted in portrait paintings, or in the long fellows' coats seen floating above the streets of Golconda.

I was taken to this particular artists' work because of a children's book I've been reading to my baby nephew, Tuesday by David Weisner. Written in 1991 and equally humorous for its unreal realism, it's wordless and demands the reader to think of and feel what he/she is looking at, and I appreciated that greatly. Easily, if I had to choose reading Tuesday or The Little Engine That Could, (one of his favorites), I vote for the unfamiliar and visually engaging. 


Works Cited

Golconda, 1953 by Rene Magritte, www.renemagritte.org/golconda.jsp.

Comments

  1. Alex LongJune 2, 2021 at 3:36 PM

    Hi Addison, what an enlightening analysis! The way color contrast is used is so intuitive but I don't think I would have consciously noticed it if you hadn't pointed it out. The blacks against a serene background, coupled with the clone-like repetition of the subjects is unsettling and meaningful. I think Magritte was clearly expressing something about the mechanical rigidity of modern life (in the 50's.) The people are like a colony of ants amongst a city with just as much regularity At first glance I wasn't impressed with this painting but your analysis helped me find so much to appreciate and ponder in it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. SylviaJune 3, 2021 at 7:45 PM

    Hi Addison, I really like this piece of art and it is great that you chose that one. I will also look into those children books and the author, because I find this very interesting and need to check it out. Thank you for adding the link and you brought the analysis to the point.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Taking of Christ, Caravaggio

Image
  The Taking of Christ, 1602, Oil on Canvas Though he was apprenticed to Simone Peterzano, a Venetian of the later Mannerist period, Michelangelo 'Caravaggio' Marisi's career first took hold in the early 1590's under the patronage of Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte. It was in this manner Caravaggio was taken under the wing of the Roman Catholic Church, and amidst a transformational period in religious practice when the Church was still working to revitalize the piety of the individual and to influence the arts away from the unusual scale and color that was the Mannerist period.  This transitional period in Italian art--from the Mannerist to the Baroque--coincided with what is known as the Counter-Reformation of the Catholic Church, which took roots in a set of council meetings some 30-40 years prior in Trent, northern Italy, known as the Council of Trent. The objective of the Council was a return to the indisputable power of the Church, clarification of its doctrines
Read more

Modern Art: The Influence of WW1

Image
 "Modernism took shape decades before World War I, but its clamorous arrival was vastly accelerated by the greatest collective trauma in history to that point." (Johnson, 2012). In the Western and industrialized world, it is evident the effect of the first World War had farther reaching consequences in both time and space. Though modernism began more than half a century prior, its definable characteristics such as the absent single point perspective or bizarre compositions wouldn't take their place in the progression of visual arts until after the Great War. Surrealism wouldn't be fully realized until life had become so visually bizarre and emotionally confounding artists, who were often made to fight for country against their will, had to put pen to paper or paint visually fragmented pieces to reflect personal experience. These experiences are delivered in bourgeoning movements post WW1 in Dadaism, an international movement that repudiated everyday conventions and in
Read more

Pilot Bread Blog

Image
Good morning, My name is Addison Cox, I am a second year student about to receive my associates in general studies. I've been very ambivalent about which degree I wish to get. I'm from Utqiagvik, formerly Barrow, and was raised between there and Anchorage. I was living in Fairbanks for the last four or five years as it was just a single bush plane ride to Anaktuvuk Pass, where my oldest sister and my in-laws live. I enjoy hunting, fishing, camping and the simple pleasures afforded by rural life. My relationship to art is rooted in my father's passion for sketching mostly. The little time I spent with him while he was around I watched him sketch quite a bit his own iterations of motorcycles and cars. He was pretty big on Motor Trend and the like. But my sisters from my father's side of the family are all very gifted artists--my sister a relatively renown one at least in the arctic circle. As for me, I take to all forms and just appreciate modes of self expression. I real
Read more