More Avant Garde

 We will continue our tour of the Cleveland Museum of Art and look at a couple more "avant garde" movements from the first half of the 20th century.

Surrealism was a movement that emerged in the 1920s.  It explored the subconscious with images, often done with photographic precision, that seem to come from a bizarre dream.

"Title Unknown" 1928

by Yves Tanguy

The Frenchman Tanguy was one of the most influential Surrealists.  In this early work mysterious forms float in an irrational, dreamlike landscape.

"The Secret Life" 1928

by René Magritte

The Belgian Magritte painted realistically rendered but illogical scenes.

"The Dream" 1931

by Salvador Dali

The most famous of the Surrealists, in part because he was such an eccentric publicity hound, was the Spaniard Salvador Dalí.  In this painting, ants crawl on the face of the central figure where the mouth is supposed to be, and the sealed eyelids suggest the frustration of a dream.

"Nocturne" 1935

by Joan Miró

Another famous Spanish painter, Miró is sometimes called a surrealist although his work is difficult to classify.  His paintings are really not my cup of tea.  In this painting, done of the eve of the Spanish Civil War, a woman runs through a nightmarish landscape toward a man.

The most famous 20th century artist is yet another Spaniard, Pablo Picasso.  During the long course of his career Picasso's work evolved through various stages, and the Cleveland Museum of Art has some very important works by him.

In the early years of the 20th century, Picasso went through his "Blue Period", when his melancholy paintings reflect the depression he was feeling over the suicide of a friend.

"La Vie (Life)" 1903

"La Vie" is considered one of the most important paintings of his "Blue Period".  Many interpretations of the work have been theorized including the cycle of life or the struggles of the working class.

The warm colors of his "Rose Period" reflect a happier period of his life.

"The Harem" 1906

The female figures are all based on sketches of his lover at the time, Fernande Olivier.

In 1908, Picasso, along with his collaborator, Georges Braque, scandalized the art world with the invention of Cubism.  In this movement objects and people were broken up and reassembled in an abstract form.

"Harlequin with a Violin" 1918

"Head" 1926

"Bull Skull, Fruit and Pitcher" 1939

The bull's skull covered with rotting flesh reflects the artist's despair over the fall of Barcelona to the fascists during the Spanish Civil War.  However the flowering tree represents his hope that democracy would return to Spain.  That hope would not come to pass until 1978, five years after the artist's death.

As mentioned Cubism was the invention of both Picasso and the Frenchman Georges Braque.  After World War I, however, the two artists broke ties with each other.

"Guitar and Bottle of Marc on a Table" 1930

by Georges Braque

The famous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera spent a number of years in Paris where he came under the influence of Cubism.

"Dos Mujeres (Two Women)" 1914

by Diego Rivera

There is more to come from the Cleveland Museum of Art in future posts.