Painting Reflections DUE 8 OCT 14 BY 6PM (ATTENTION KIM WOODS)

Example:

Elegy to the Spanish Republic 34, Robert Motherwell, 1954

a. What influenced or inspired this painting? How?

The Spanish Civil War deeply influenced and affected Motherwell’s painting. The title of the painting refers to a body of about 170 works Motherwell completed that deal with this subject matter. In 1937, he heard André Malraux speak at a rally on the Spanish Civil War and this sparked his interest in international causes, political events, and historical moments of the 20th century. The Spanish playwright and poet Federico García Lorca, whose work dealt with themes of life and death, also influenced Motherwell. Motherwell’s painting attempted to visually represent the themes in Lorca’s poetry.

b. What social commentary do you think this painting is trying to convey? Explain.

Motherwell used this painting as a way to convey the pain and suffering of war and to comment on the relationship between life and death and oppression and freedom. The contrasts in black, white, and color in the painting work to convey these relationships. As the title implies, he was also creating a painting that would serve as a lamentation and comment on mourning the dead lost in war. In so doing, Motherwell declared and acknowledged in his painting that something terrible had happened that should not be forgotten.

References:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2006). Robert Motherwell: Elegy to the Spanish Republic, 70.

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Retrieved from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-

of-art/65.247.

Motherwell, R. (1954). Elegy to the Spanish Republic [Painting]. Retrieved from

http://www.albrightknox.org/collection/collection-highlights/piece:motherwell-elegy-spanish-

republic-xxxiv/.

Tonkin, S. (n.d.) Robert Motherwell: Discussion of the work. National Gallery of Australia.

Retrieved from http://nga.gov.au/international/catalogue/Detail.cfm?IRN=187644.