The Anthropomorphic Cabinet
Salvador Dali (1936)

About the Artist and This Painting

Salvador Dali was a Spanish surrealist painter active from 1910 to 1983. His paintings changed from simple landscape scenes into wildly imaginative surrealist portraits as he matured as a painter. He is best known for his strikingly bizarre images, often inspired by dreams he had. He is best known for the painting "The Persistence of Memory", which is the one with the melted clocks. He is also known for drawing lots of attention to himself by doing evermore increasingly bizarre things, such as insisting that his mustache acted as an antenna, which led many to take an interest in his work.

The Painting is one of Salvador Dali's lesser known pictures, but it is one of my favorites. It is a picture of a woman lying in a feeble position as she is apparently shunned by the society in the upper-right hand corner. Clearly, she doesn't fit in with them.

How This Painting Applies to My Theory of Good and Evil
and
Why I Chose This Painting

This painting applies to my theory of good and evil because it clearly demonstrates the rift between rich and poor. As you can see, the woman cannot be accepted into the wealthy society in the upper-right because she is poor. This is a perfect example of reification. Because a painting is simply a picture, you are unable to tell which group is group (X) and which is group (Y). Perhaps the woman committed an unspeakable crime, and that is why she is socially rejected, placing her in the (Y) category and casting the society as (X). However, I tend to believe it is the other way around; that the reason she is outside of the group and lacking even simple clothing is because she is poverty-stricken. Often, rich people shun poor people solely because they are different than them, and I think that this is a perfect example of that. Therefore, I believe that the evil people in this group are definitely the rich, upstanding people in the upper-right, and they belong to the (Y) category.

I chose this painting because Salvador Dali is my favorite artist, and one day I managed to stumble upon it. When I read the Webpage requirements, I instantly thought to myself how this painting clearly shows reification, and would definitely apply to my webpage and my theory of good and evil. I like this painting because you can analyze it in so many ways, and each time I look at it it seems that something else jumps out at me.

The Head of Medusa
Peter Paul Rubens
(1613-1617/18)

About the Artist and This Painting

Peter Paul Rubens was a prolific seventeenth century Flemish painter. His paintings emphasized movement, color, and sensuality. He is known for painting religious things, such as churches and altars, as well as mythological monsters. Rubens owned a large studio in Antwerp, and his paintings were very famous during his time, often collected and displayed by kings and queens of that era. He was also known for painting portraits of members of royalty. For example, the Duke of Lerma was painted and that painting, Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma, is one of his most famous paintings.

This painting is widely regarded as his darkest and most graphic. It was painted while he was at work in his studio in Antwerp, and displays the severed head of the mythical creature Medusa. Upon closer examination, one is able to see the snakes striving to break free from Medusa's scalp . Additionally, some are fighting each other because with no living host to guide them, they act just as normal snakes, instead of part of Medusa.

How This Painting Applies to My Theory of Good and Evil
and
Why I Chose This Painting

This painting applies to my theory of good and evil in a very roundabout way. Its obvious as to why it applies to monstrosity, but in order to find the perceived good and evil, you have too look a little deeper. The way I did this is by analyzing the snakes, more than Medusa herself. The way I look at it, when Medusa died, the snakes are trying to flee the severed head. I theorize that they do this because they do not want to be like Medusa, who belongs to evil category (Y), and therefore flee towards freedom, which exists far away from category (Y). I know its a roundabout way of analyzing it, but I think that Rubens may be trying to make a point. The point I think that he is trying to make is that humans will stick with someone evil for protection, but as soon as that evil person dies, then they won't hesitate to escape the evil and flee towards freedom, even fighting each other on the way.

I chose this painting because the facial expression on Medusa really struck me and stuck with me for a long time after I first saw it. I also chose it because upon closer examination, you are able to decipher many things that are not immediatly evident upon first examination. I also like it because while it is a gruesome painting, the different colors and lusters of the snakes creates an almost surreal beauty around Medusa's head.