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Melancholia Essay

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The Melancholia oil painting by Giorgio de Chirico dated 1916 measuring 20 x 20 ½ inches and the Standing Nude Woman sculpture by Alberto Giacometti dated 1953 measuring 8 ½ x 3 ½ x 4 ¾ inches located in the Menil Collection were both encouraged by European art during the Surrealist movement. This was a time to explore the unconscious mind and to draw from dreams and imagination which resembled a feeling of sadness and alienation suggesting feelings of silence in everyday life.
There are many different ways an artist uses visual elements/principles in describing their art. The oil painting shows exaggerated colors on the landscape to show the effect and appearance of its brightness. Both vertical and horizontal lines describe the movement away …show more content…

A brush for thin strokes was required to paint the warm yellow color in the arches and tower to contrast with the background of the greenish-blue sky painted darker to resemble dusk and the gold and black tints are in the foreground. The rhythm of the archways leads your eyes from one point in the other direction creating unity of the shapes, colors and patterns showing coordination and proportion to one another. The symmetrical painting has variety of elements that bring the design together with the focal point of the small-scale statue showing the value in contrast to the brighter background for the viewer to fill closer to the artwork. It balances the picture and is representative therefore you are able to identify the scenery with an amount of abstraction in the statue. The three-dimensional empty space sculpture has a vertical line of two end points intended for the body and horizontal for the large base, like the Cubism style, but missing beauty and bright colors. The color is naturalistic white clay with thin strokes of a brush to paint the shiny gold trim but the rectangular shapes are used for defining the body parts, like the narrow small head. The chisel for carving around a wire armature, which had to be used to detail

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