AOW #2: Dali Painting

photo: http://lh5.ggpht.com/-fdzIyiXskwk/TaNpuOYpbXI/AAAAAAAABsY/YelN9wiNrKo/salvador-dali-geburt-ei.jpg

So, based on the title “Enfant Geopolitique Observant la Naissance de l'Homme Nouveau” (or “Child Geopolitics, Watch the Birth of the New Man”) I can infer that this picture is politically, globally and religiously based (based on the definition of geopolitics). I also understand that  this is about the birth or the needed rebirth of the entire world as a whole (the world is shaped like an egg and it looks like the two older figures are Adam and Eve with a child who represents creation).

The “author” or painter of this painting is Salvador Dali.

To establish his credibility, the website says that he had been painting ever since he was a young child (born in 1904 but it was believed that he discovered impressionism around 1916 and began painting at a young age). Also, he has been a part of hundreds of art exhibitions throughout the years to display his work and is widely well known. Website - http://www.salvador-dali.org/en_index.html
 

The context of this piece would definitely be either spacial or causal. It would be spacial because the controversial topics he addresses (religion with Adam and Eve and even geography and politics with the melting and re-forming world) are references to history as well as to history repeating itself. It could also be causal because these speculations about certain parts of history had to grow from some type of interaction between the people, space and time.

I believe that the purpose of this piece was to show to the people of the world (like Eve showing the people, represented by the child) that we need to break the shell of our old earth and mistakes and begin rebirth to start anew. The “new” and “reborn” world can be represented as the man coming out of the old shell who can start to help rebuild the new world with Eve (possibly like what happened at the beginning of time, based on Christian beliefs).           

The audience of this piece would be, in an extremely broad sense, the entire human population because Dali is trying to tell the entire world how we must all start anew.

Some rhetorical elements that Dali used were pathos and contrast. He showed pathos by giving two characters (possible Eve and a child) strong facial expressions and certain body jesters (like when Eve is pointing to the rebirth, forcing the child to watch the process) that provoke certain emotions from the audience. He showed contrast with the contrast of light and dark colors which illuminate more important things (like the “rebirth”, the blood and the melting continents).

Yes, Dali completely accomplished his purpose. He did because he expanded upon a simple meaning and added a deeper concept within the little details he included in the painting.  He was even able to express his thoughts through the colors (illumination to represent a bright future) as well as the deep shadows and seemingly never-ending world behind the earth.