The Persistence of Memory, Starry Night and Analysis of Other Paintings

Dreams are something that everyone is or was able to have at one point in their life. Dreams are defined as, 'a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep.' Many artists create their artworks from their dreams or other people's dreams. Many cultures base artworks off of dreams as well. The artworks can range from very bizarre and wild, to very beautiful and simple.

Many artists use dream inspired artwork to show their audience a different realm in the world of art. It helps give an audience a look into the artist’s imagination and how bizarre and beautiful their work could be. It is very important for artists to have an imagination, and dreams are the source of imagination. Dreams let your mind run wild, and wild and bizarre dreams help create amazing pieces of artwork. Many people believe that painting one’s dreams is a journey of self discovery. Dreams and surrealism help an artist’s inner thoughts go from impossible to possible when putting them down on a canvas, a piece of paper, or any form of artwork.

The first artwork I will be talking about is called the 'African Sonata', created by Vladimir Kush, a Russian surrealist painter. This artwork displays three large elephants, and instead of having faces, they have tubas. There are many different animals are gathering around the elephants, who as well have musical instruments on them. Along with this, the sky is represented with musical notes as the grass are also represented by instruments. This painting represents the elephants being the leaders of this certain African landscape and it shows how the animals follow the elephants and listen to them. This painting takes the viewer to the heart of Africa.

The second artwork I will be talking about is very well known. It is called, 'The Persistence of Memory', created by Salvador Dalí in 1931. Often just called “Clocks”, this artwork is considered a surrealist masterpiece. This artwork displays a couple of melted clocks representing how time isn’t a factor in the dream world. This represents how useless and irrelevant time is when we are in our dream state. It is also stated that we are always rushed in our daily lives as we try to get everything done on time. Salvador could also be stating that simple machines like wall clocks and pocket watches are primitive and old-fashioned. Time passes a lot faster in the dream world so you cannot exactly determine the time that you are dreaming.

The third artwork I will be talking about is called the “Arrival of the Flower Ship”, painted by Vladimir Kush in 2000. This painting is supposedly the view of the “botanical” venture throughout history. This piece resembles the British ship “Bounty”, which sailed from Tahiti to the Caribbean, the plants of the bread fruit trees. The sails of the ship are made out of pink flowers with the ropes for the sails being vines and the poles being stems. This piece resembles the vividness of how dreams could be. There is also people floating on the loose flower petals around the ship.

The fourth artwork I will be talking about is called “The Scream”, created by Edvard Munch in 1893. Munch referred his Scream painting to being his “soul painting.” Munch reveals that this painting shows most of his inner troubles and his feelings of anxiety, showing the importance of personal meaning rather than beauty. Munch also had based the piece with a personal experience. “I was walking down the road with two friends when the sun set; suddenly, the sky turned as red as blood. I stopped and leaned against the fence, feeling unspeakably tired. Tongues of fire and blood stretched over the bluish black fjord. My friends went on walking, while I lagged behind, shivering with fear. Then I heard the enormous infinite scream of nature.” (Munch) The painting seems to display a peaceful and relaxing event but for Munch, it is a scene of crisis. A panic attack as described with Munch being exhausted and having a feeling of high anxiety rush through him.

The fifth and final artwork I will be talking about is Vincent Van Gogh's “Starry Night”, Created in 1889. Van Gogh lived in a hospital at the time of this painting being created. It is said that Van Gogh had started to suffer with hallucinations and thoughts of suicide overwhelmed him as he spiraled into a state of depression. With this, he began to implement the more darker colors that he has used at the beginning of his career to create a Starry Night. Blue dominates the painting as it forms the hills into the sky. The village is portrayed with colors of brown, grey, and blue with the outline of the buildings being in black. Even with the painting drowned in such dark colors, the bright white and yellow stars and the moon stand out against the dark blue sky.

Works Cited

1. Mieloch, Christopher. Vladimir Kush - African-Sonata [628], https://vladimirkush.com/african-sonata. 
2. “Salvador Dali Persistence of Memory: Meaning of the Melting Clocks.” LEGOMENON, https://legomenon.com/salvador-dali-persistence-of-memory-melting-clocks-meaning.html.
3. Mieloch, Christopher. Vladimir Kush - Arrival-of-the-Flower-Ship [624], https://vladimirkush.com/arrival-of-the-flower-ship. 
4. “Meaning of The Scream (1893) Painting by Edvard Munch: Art Analysis.” LEGOMENON, https://legomenon.com/meaning-of-the-scream-1893-painting-by-edvard-munch.html.
5. “Van Gogh Starry Night: Van Gogh Gallery.” Van Gogh Starry Night - The Painting and The Story, https://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starry-night.html.