Study 1: Introduction to Dürer and Melancholia I

We begin with a short introduction to Dürer and his work.

• View the two short videos below to become more familiar with the artist, Albrecht Dürer.

Sometimes to understand art, one must understand the creative genius of the artist.

• Read the two articles ART & ARTISTS: the Renaissance and the Rise of the Artist and ART & ARTISTS: Renaissance art and "grazia" to better understand what being an artist meant during the Renaissance times.

DÜRER'S SYMBOLISM

Decoding Dürer

Albrecht Dürer’s inventiveness and intellect are evident in his prints; he often used visual symbols to add layers of meaning to his works.  Dürer’s contemporaries would have recognized the deeper meanings of the animals, plants, tools, and other seemingly insignificant details in his prints.
Scholars have long worked to decode complex images such as Knight, Death, and the Devil and Melencolia I by investigating the symbols that are depicted within them.  This form of investigation, known as iconography, identifies and interprets visual signs in works of art to better understand them.  The historical meaning behind Dürer’s symbols could be lost on contemporary audiences.  This page is meant to help decode some of these symbols.  It is only one way, among many, to interpret Dürer’s images.
Discover what its symbols would have meant to Dürer’s audience.

Look at Dürer's drawing more closely. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Take a closer look, inspecting the 11 objects you see outlined in red and think about what they might mean. Perhaps before you ponder what some of these objects mean, you might wonder what some of them are!

Dürer did this engraving in 1514 (which is hinted to us in one of the objects.) That was almost 500 years ago. Most of the objects are familiar to us because we still use them to this day. But some of the objects are simply baffling as to what they could be or could have been used for.

 Magic square: Orderliness of numbers, each line (horizontal, vertical, diagonal) adds up to 34. Thought to be a talisman to attract Jupiter (The god who could heal the effects of Saturn)

 1514: The year of the death of Dürer’s mother. Also the date of this print

Figure of Melancholy: “Melancholic” is one of the four humors. It was the least desirable humor because it was responsible for depression, apathy, and even insanity. The advantage of being melancholic, however, was that this humor tended to be associated with the most creative and intelligent individuals. It was believed that carpenters, mathematicians, artists, and grammarians all tended to be melancholic. 

Wreath (in hair): Made from a plant which was believed to be a cure for excessive melancholy

 Compass: Mathematician



                                                  

Putto with notebook: Grammarian

 Keys: Power

Purse: Wealth

                                                                                
Bell: Eternity

Hourglass: Transience of life

Magic square: Orderliness of numbers, each line (horizontal, vertical, diagonal) adds up to 34. Thought to be a talisman to attract Jupiter (The god who could heal the effects of Saturn)

Bat: Darkness. Boiled bats were recommended by the ancients as a remedy for melancholy

Comet: Sign of Saturn, the god affiliated with melancholy

Hammer: Carpenter

Orb: Fortune 

Dog: Truth and loyalty

ASSIGNMENT for the blog:

• Respond to the following questions:

1. Why do you think Dürer might have used these objects as symbols?
2. Would these objects have the same meaning if they stood alone as they do grouped together in this composition?

This quote is from Jansen's History of Art.

"One of the four temperaments, she holds the tool of geometry, yet is surrounded by chaos. She thinks, but cannot act, while the infant scrawling on the slate, who symbolizes Practical Knowledge, can act but not think. This is then, the melancholia of an artist. He cannot achieve perfect beauty, which is known only to God, because he cannot extend his thinking beyond the limitations of space and the physical world. "

Dialog your ideas and respond to the following questions:

What does the quote tell you about the artwork? What does it tell you about the artist?

Why are proportion and perspective so important in realistic drawings and paintings?

How does the composition or the placement of the objects in this print make it so powerful?

Why do you think it was so important to understand an artist as a creative genius rather than as a craftsman during the Renaissance?

What object captivates your attention the most? What do you suppose it symbolizes?

• Post your dialog to the blog. Think of dialog as a stream of meaning flowing among and through the group, out of which may emerge a new understanding, something creative.
• Comment on the posting of one other classmate that no one has commented on yet. (There should be only one comment per post.) Take your time to really understand what the others are saying and reflect on it. The emphasis is on learning and new insight. See what shared meaning you can uncover as you integrate multiple perspectives.
• Use sophisticated, appropriate language and vocabulary in your discussion and comments.

Submit your posts by the due date. Read the postings of at least three other classmates, but comment on only one post that has not received a response yet.

DUE DATE: Wednesday, January 20 by 10:00 p.m.

Study 2: Interpreting the Image

Let's begin this study by attempting to interpret the image. This calls for a close study of the composition -- getting to know it.

Melancholia I (1514) by German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) is a large print full of complex symbolism. One of the four bodily humors in medieval thought, melancholy was associated with insanity as well as artistic prowess. In Dürer's work on paper, instruments of geometry, an exacting branch of mathematics in which the artist excelled, surround a downtrodden winged personification of the humor, perhaps a visual reference by the master to his own inability to realize perfection in design.

Read:
    Interpretation of this Drawing
    Essay on Melancholia I


In 1514, Albrecht Dürer created an engraving named Melancholia that included a magic square. In the bottom row of his 4 X 4 magic square you can see that he placed the numbers "15" and "14" side by side to reveal the date of his engraving. A magic square is said to be symmetrical if each of those pair of numbers which are symmetrical in the centre point of the square add to half the sum of the numbers in each row, column, and principal diagonal – here 17. The magic square shown in Melancholia is symmetrical. Only four of all the known magic squares are symmetrical -- Dürer's is one of them.

There are two things to note about Dürer's magic square: 

1. The middle two numbers in the bottom row are the date that this work was done 15 14.
2. The outer two, 4 and 1 can be thought of as the fourth and first letter of the Latin alphabet, representing the letters D A, Dürer's monogram.

The most important source that Dürer drew upon in composing Melencolia was Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim’s De Occulta Philosophia (1509-1510). He was also most likely Dürer's source for the magic square.

The magic square in ‘Melencolia I’ has the additional property that any pair of entries symmetrical to the center add to 17. It is just one of four magic squares with this property and with the numerals 15 and 14 centered on the bottom of the square.

View the video about Dürer's Magic Square

If you draw lines on Durer's Magic Square, beginning with 1, then 2, then 3 and so on, continuing to 16, you end up with a symmetrical pattern.

 

ASSIGNMENT for the blog:

DIALOG IDEAS for the blog post:

• What thoughts or insights do you have after reading more about the meanings of the objects? Is there anything you would interpret differently that has not been discussed by any of the authors?
• Think about what symbolizes you. Look for clues around your room -- sports equipment, musical instruments, books, music, electronics, colors, etc. -- and make a list of eleven things that are a part of you or what you stand for. Post this list in your blog dialog. How could you associate these items with yourself and develop them into meaningful symbols? (Note: Why eleven things and not ten? Read this short article:  Rule of Odds about composing objects in a work of visual art.)

For further help: See Blog Posts Rubric in the sidebar
See Dialog vs. Discussion under RUBRICS in the sidebar

Submit your posts and and respond to one other peer's dialog by the due date. Read the postings and comments of at least three other classmates.
DUE DATE for this assignment: Saturday, January 23 by 10:00 p.m.

Study 3: Dürer's Influence on Picasso - The 1934 Drawing

Dürer's Influence on Picasso

In the year 1514 the German painter and engraver Albrect Dürer made his most famous engraving, 'Melencolia'.

The engraving is an allegory describing the creative melancholy of the artist and is thought to be a symbolic self portrait. Dürer's Melencolia is replete with alchemical symbolism related directly to much of the symbolism in the 1934 drawing.



Picasso was a great admirer of Dürer and owned at least one original print by the artist, given to him by Max Jacob; he also owned a an expensive German edition of reproductions of Dürer's work.






Dürer's theme of Saturnalian Melancholy appears to have been derived from a treatise by a German physician named Heinrich von Nettesham, written around 1510, and entitled 'De occulta philosophia.'

Since classical times artistic Melencolia was thought of as a depressed state of mind that takes away an artist's enthusiasm for his work. It's cure was believed by Renaissance astrologer's to be aided by the charm of a magic square and in particular the Jupiter magic square which appears in the upper right hand corner of Dürer's engraving. The square is magic because each row, each column and each diagonal, add up to the same number, which in the Jupiter magic square is 34. The numerals 3 and 4 also denote special importance in Alchemy because they represent the spiritual transformation of the alchemist. 3 symbolises the limited, finite life of the physical world and everyday existence and 4 symbolises the infinite realm of the spirit and the cosmos. Their product is 12, the number of Tarot card the Hanged Man, which in turn symbolises the union of physical life and spiritual life.

The number 34 is relevant to Picasso's drawing because it refers the year it was made and to its predominant theme of Crucifixion because of its association to the symbolism of the Hanged Man in the Tarot.

In Melencolia, Dürer has incorporated the engraving's date, 1514, into the lower row of numbers in the magic square.

In a similar way Picasso hid the date of production into the 1934 drawing. The digits '34' appear in many places within the black ink of the composition, but are only made visible after computer enhancement.

The square format of the drawing is rare in Picasso's work, and in this case, it appears to signify that the drawing is itself a magic square, intended to charm off the melancholy that was beginning to affect Picasso's life at the time.

Picasso's 1934 drawing contains a number of other esoteric elements which appear to have been borrowed from Dürer's Melencolia. In both compositions for example, there is a concealed squaring of a circle. In the lower left corner of Dürer's work there is a circle in the form of a globe, in the upper left corner there is a semi-circle in the form of a rainbow, and in the upper right there is a quarter circle defined by a bell rope and in the lower right corner the circle disappears altogether, thereby breaking the sequence. This is a circle being halved systematically through three corners of the frame of the composition and finally disappearing. In the 1934 drawing, we find the same process taking place. In the upper left corner, there is a circle in the form of the spiral motif, in the upper right corner, there is a semi circle in the form of a black half moon, and in the lower right corner, there is a quarter circle painted in wash, finally in the lower left corner all traces of the circle disappear, again breaking the sequence. The symbolism indicates liberation or transcendence from melancholy and it is also strongly indicative of death and resurrection.


The two pictures also contain very similar iconography, in each there is a dog, a ladder, two angels, the tools of the artist's trade: paints and a brush in the Picasso and woodworking tools in the Dürer. All this leaves little doubt that Dürer's greatest engraving was an important source in the creation of the 1934 drawing.

Picasso's Unknown Masterpiece - Overview
It is a little known fact that the origin of Pablo Picasso's Guernica lies in a secretive drawing that was executed in 1934 and which re-surfaced in England in the 1970s.

This previously unknown work contains the widest range of themes of all known Picassos and has been signed, dated and fingerprinted by the artist. Yet since its discovery, the Picasso museums and the Picasso Administration under the direction of Claude Picasso have refused access to fingerprinted materials that could prove it genuine.

A number of well known scholars close to the Picasso Estate have also been brushing aside or denying the attribution when communicating with the media. Regardless of what they may say, the drawing's authenticity can be proven one way or the other, but this may never happen unless Claude Picasso and those under his influence, permit access to fingerprinted items in their control.

The 1934 Drawing - Picasso's Unknown Masterpiece



The Discovery of The 1934 Drawing
In the 1970's, a London junk dealer was commissioned to clear the effects of a deceased Polish woman from a flat in Ealing. The property had recently been ransacked, but among the remaining possessions he found five ink drawings, along with a bag of loose rubies and a valuable diamond bracelet. He also discovered lots of theatrical memorabilia and concluded from this that the woman had once been a dancer or an actress in the theatre.

The junk dealer kept the drawings for a number of years, then in the 1980's, he sold them to a picture dealer who disposed of four of the drawings to persons unknown. From his description of the four drawings, it appears that they may have been side panels to the drawing discussed here.

In the spring of 1991, the picture dealer sold the last remaining drawing to another dealer who consulted a third party for an opinion. The third party examined the work and had the strong feeling that it might be by Picasso. The drawing was shown to Christie's, the next day, they concluded it was by, "a very close friend of Picasso."

Subsequent research shows beyond doubt that the drawing is, in fact, an important, previously unknown work by Picasso. Despite numerous inquiries, the identify of the deceased Polish woman remains a mystery.

The Fingerprint
A subsequent examination revealed the presence of a fingerprint which had been rolled into the ink at the time of the drawing's creation.

The fingerprint, according to the findings of British fingerprint expert, has at least 14 identifiable characteristics. This is considered to be more than enough to determine conclusive proof of identity in a court of law.

Fingerprinting works of art was a technique that Picasso knew about and sometimes employed.

In 1914, the celebrated French criminologist, Alphonse Bertillon, proposed that famous artists fingerprint their work to prevent the fraud. Bertillon's article appeared in Le Matin under the title 'Bertillonage, on ne trouquera plus les d'oeuvres d'art.' According to the article, a number of famous artists, including Rodin, were said to have ascribed to the system. A cutting of this very article later appeared in Juan Gris' painting, 'Figure Seated In A Cafe'.

At this time Gris and Picasso had been in close communication, therefore it would seem probable that Picasso learned about fingerprinting at this time.

Jean Gluck, a former secretary of Picasso, who had responsible for cataloguing the artist's work, claimed in 1994, that a number of Picasso drawings had been signed with a fingerprint. John Richardson however, has stated adamantly that Picasso never signed this way. Richardson, like other historians who enjoy a close relationship with the Picasso administration, dismisses the fingerprint as evidence altogether. The question remains, is it or is it not Picasso's fingerprint in the drawing ?

Hidden Signatures and Dates
Beside the hidden fingerprint in the drawing are the inscriptions 'Picasso 1934' and '12.5.34'. These are barely visible to the naked eye and were discovered by chance when photographing the drawing.

Michael Ansell, a respected British handwriting and document expert, formerly the deputy head of the document section at Scotland Yard, examined the drawing in 1993 and concluded a preliminary report by stating :

'...all the features capable of comparison to date are entirely consistent with those appearing in other drawings by Picasso as well as items which contain Picasso's normal handwriting.'

Signatures and numbers had special significance for Picasso and he attached great importance to them.
The signature in the 1934 drawing although rare in works of the 1930's, corresponds identically with Picasso's signature in works from around the turn of the century.








The drawing contains at least two other signatures encrypted in its composition. One of these, shown below, is a large geometric 'Picazzo' signature. Like the signature above, this also harks back to the turn of the century. It relates to a number of drawings from that period, such as, 'The Street Violinist" of 1897, signed "Picazzo" The signature also relates to Picasso's first exhibit at Els Quatre Ghats in 1900, where he was billed as Picazzo.









1934, The Biographical Background
Allied to Picasso's fascination for Balzac's short-story, The Unknown Masterpiece, was an intention to create a single work which brought together all his important themes.

Works by Picasso which contain a convergence of many themes usually only occurred at times of crisis. It is no coincidence that such works are now almost always regarded as the most important masterpieces. Picasso created his best work under stress.

Although the year 1934 is barely documented in Picasso history, it was without doubt one of the most critical years for the artist, because it was the commencement of the worst period of his life.

Picasso was driven in his art by the need to unload himself of psychological concerns.

The sequence of works leading up to the 1934 drawing and following on from it, show that Picasso's principle concern at this time was the love triangle that existed between himself, his wife Olga and his mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter.

In the early months of 1934 Picasso invented horrific bullfight scenes analogous to the developments in his life.

Later the same year, Picasso's wife who, at this time, has been described as a person possessed, appears to have discovered her husband's affair and filed for divorce.

The divorce unsettled Picasso enormously, threatening both his family life and property.

Another dimension to the crisis is that Marie-Thérèse appears to have undergone an abortion at or just prior to the time of the drawing.

Symbols relating to a tragic pregnancy are repeated throughout the drawing and also appear in other works going back as far as 1925. Which may indicate an earlier loss of a child with Picasso.

By mid 1934, Picasso began depicting his wife, who may have known about the pregnancy, as a raging monster wielding a carving knife in a murderous attack on Marie-Thérèse.

These terrifying visions of hatred and destruction and the artist's consequent feelings of crucifixion are key elements in the drawing.

The unparalleled convergence of themes describe a tragic and terrifying theatre of the mind in which Picasso represents the two women in his life as the two thieves at his own crucifixion.

The drawing is riddled with symbolism associated with the artist's personal life and his mystical interests and it also contains cryptic references to the rise of Hitler and the Third Reich.

Picasso had been greatly concerned about political developments in Europe. Another war with Germany seemed inevitable and as a result of this horrific realisation, powerful apocalyptic images which seem to have emerged from depths of hell, can be found hidden in the drawing.

View The Mystery of Picasso

ASSIGNMENT for the blog:

DIALOG IDEAS for the blog post:

•  What thoughts or insights do you have after reading more about Durer's Influence on Picasso? Is there anything you would interpret differently that has not been discussed by any of the authors?
• What do you think Picasso learned from Dürer? How did Picasso give meaning to his symbols?
• From the list of objects in the previous study, pick a couple of the things that could be your most important objects. Share on your blog post your ideas on how they can be symbols that communicate some meaning about you. Your objects/symbols can be simple like Picasso's or detailed like Dürer's.

For further help: See Blog Posts Rubric in the sidebar

See Dialog vs. Discussion under RUBRICS in the sidebar

Submit your posts and respond to one other peer's dialog by the due date. Read the postings and comments of at least three other classmates.

  

DUE DATE for this assignment: Saturday, January 23 by midnight.

Study 4: Picasso's 1934 Drawing - Themes, Symbolism and Alchemy

Themes of the 1934 Drawing

The Bullfight Theme
One of the most important themes in "The Unknown Masterpiece" is that of the Spanish bullfight.

Running vertically down the right hand side of the drawing is a profile of a huge bull which has been stylized to blend in with the curtain in the same area of the composition.

The female in front of the hidden bull is dressed in the traditional traje de luces or costume of a torrera, a female bullfighter.

From the torrera's clasped hands appears to hang a small striped 'muleta' or bullfighter's cape.

The bull's proximity to the torrera suggests they have joined forces, she appears to be leading the animal onto the stage as they advance towards the female on the left to attack. This interpretation is supported by other Picasso drawings from 1934 in which Picasso's wife Olga attacks his mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter. Supportive of this interpretation we find in Picasso's poems of 1935, descriptions of Marie-Thérèse characterized as a wounded horse in the corrida.

There are further indications in that Marie-Therese appears in "The Unknown Masterpiece, " to be symbolically gored by the horns of the bull.

The horse-shoe or 'U' shaped darts apparently digging into her shoulder symbolize multiple pairs of bull's horns. They appear to emanate from behind Olga's back, where similar forms can be seen balancing on a bunch of bandarillas or darts which are normally plunged into the neck of bull, to weaken it up, before "the moment of truth." The darts or bandarillas have a dual appearance, they also look like a bunch of flowers. Did Olga possibly visit her husband's lover, upon hearing of her pregnancy? One can only speculate, but it would seem that a deception is taking place, an ambush with weapons disguised as a gift. Reininforcing the interpretation, we find in Picasso's play, "The Three Little Girls," a scene in which flowers are thrown like spears. Picasso tended to cling to imagery like this and transform it over periods of years, applying it at times to a variety of media.

There is also a suggested shadowy form of a horses' head, painted in wash, in the darkened area on Marie-Thérèse's shoulder.

Furthermore, the heavily black emphasised 'Z' shape running through her eyes and digging into her neck can be seen as part of a concealed 'Picazzo' signature in the composition. There is a similar, less emphasised 'Z' shape, under the neck of Olga along with other distinctive shapes which if bought together would form the complete "Picazzo" signature.

As far as the figure on the left is concerned the concealed 'Z' alludes to the tradition of blindfolding and severing the vocal chords of the horse. This also has strong poetic associations with the 'silenced' and 'blinded' relationship Picasso enforced upon Marie-Thérèse during the 1920's and 1930's.

Between the central figure and the figure on the left, is a barrera, a protective wooden barrier often seen built into the perimeter of the bullring.

There are also two concealed, subliminal images of bulls heads within the composition. In the upper area, there is an impression of a bull staring outwards at the observer

and in the lower area, there is the impression of a silhouetted bull's head delineated in the lines of ink and black wash.

These emphasised shapes and the symmetry of their' horns, indicate they were intentionally concealed images.

The Crucifixion Theme

"The Unknown Masterpiece" contains many traditional crucifixion motifs which have been interwoven in a complex poetic relationship with other themes in the work and themes beyond it. This gives rise to a variety of interpretative possibilities. It is also one of the principal characteristics of a real Picasso masterpiece.

The two females on either side of the central figure represent the two women in Picasso's life in 1934. In the context of the Crucifixion theme, they are characterized as the two thieves either side of Christ.

The female on the left, is Marie-Thérèse Walter in a pose almost identical to that of the Magdalene in a numerous acclaimed Renaissance Crucifixions, including the great Mond Altarpiece by Raphael.

Picasso was a strict traditionalist, despite his amazing ability for innovation and revolution.

The central figure has one clearly visible outstretched arm, to the left. Another outstretched arm, determining the Crucifixion pose, is concealed in the island of light in the right hand figure's face. This 'flying arm' is a recurrant feature in Picasso's graphics and poems of the 1930's. In "The Unknown Masterpiece," the arm is severed and the end of the stump doubles as the black circle on the right. Severed arms such as this are a mysterious symbolic element in many of Picasso's works, including Guernica.

The spiral light source in the upper left corner and the large black semi circle in the upper right corner, represenet the Sun and Moon traditionally seen in Renaissance Crucifixions. They represent duality and complimentary opposites of life and death and so on. It is also a common underlying theme of Picasso's work in the '20's and '30's.
The ladder, or pair of steps, on which Picasso stands crucified is another traditional Crucifixion motif. It also symbolizes the alchemical ladder or the stages of initiation.
The black almond shaped area In Picasso's abdomen represents the gaping wound in Christ's side, always present in traditional Crucifixions. Out of the wound, appears an enormous flow of blood, represented by the vertical black column of ink between the central and right hand figures. Picasso was known to have made the analogy between his own blood and the ink in his drawings, on more than one occasion.
Rising out of the left hand figure's shoulder, there is a Tau Cross, associated with the Mithraic cult and with alchemy. Behind the female on the right there are some crossed pen lines indicating another Cross. These two crosses reinforce the idea that the two women in the drawing are also undergoing crucifixion.
Either side of the ladder are the shadowy forms of two dark angels, which again are traditional Renaissance crucifixion motifs.

The central figure's thrown back head suggests he is at the moment of death or in a state of transfiguration, analogous to death.

Below his torso, concealed within the wash, there is a half skull whose eye is the black oblong in the center of the composition. The skull is yet another crucifixion motif and one of Picasso's most important symbols.

"The Unknown Masterpiece," contains a number of other references to crucifixion which are linked to the stories of Parsifal, Oedipus, Odin and Frankenstein.

Symbols of the 1934 Drawing

Picasso's Harlequin

Picasso's favorite alter ego is harlequin, a mysterious character who has long been associated with the god Mercury and Alchemy.

Harlequin's abilities to become invisible and travel to any part of the world at will and take on other forms, were said to have been magically bestowed on him by the god Mercury. It is also said that the secrets of Alchemy, were hidden in the Harlequinade.

Harlequin is also a familiar character in Punch and Judy puppet theatre. In the Barcelona, similar puppet shows had the characters, 'Christoforo' and 'Pulchinelli', who a popular feature of street life at the turn of century.

Picasso probably saw many such performances. He also is known to have assisted in some of Pére Romeu's famous puppet shows at Els Quatre Ghats.
He would probably also have witnessed enactments of harlequin's, "Triumph Over Death" in the annual street carnivals of Barcelona.

Picasso also concealed a number of harlequin forms in his most famous painting Guernica.

These hidden harlequins appear to be magically undermining the forces of death in the painting, and are therefore reminiscent of harlequin's Triumph Over Death.

Wine is one of harlequin's traditional accoutrements which he uses to seduce women.

Occasionally, Picasso's harlequin appears to do the same thing, as can be seen in the painting 'Au Lapin Agile', 1905.

 

Picasso's harlequin often appears as the father of an infant or yearning for fatherhood, a quality associated with the traditional harlequin, who has the ability to raise breast feed his own children, an alchemical analogy for guidance rendered to the initiate by Mercury.

Picasso symbolically links two of these element and we see harlequin's wine equated with pregnancy as in the 1905 drawing, 'Circus Artist and Child. It shows a mother breast feeding her baby, a wine bottle at her feet is adapted into a baby's feeding bottle. In Picasso's symbolic frame of reference it is not simply a baby's bottle, nor a wine bottle. It is a double symbol for harlequin and Mercury.

In the Three Dancers and the 1934 drawing there is a further, astonishing interlinking of Picasso's wine and pregnancy symbolism.

Frankenstein

In 1931, Universal Studios released the movie 'Frankenstein,' in it the monster, as most of us recognize him today, made his first appearance. The 1934 drawing appears to contain an inverted portrait of Frankenstein's monster derived from this movie.

Picasso, who was himself, often described as a monster, loved cinema and almost certainly saw 'Frankenstein' soon after its release in France. It appears clear from the drawing that Picasso went on to identify a number of symbolic links between himself and the monster and identified further symbolic associations between the monster and Hitler's Aryan Superman.

Frankenstein's monster, like Oedipus and Picasso, were in a sense all responsible for the destruction of their fathers*. All three also suffered a form of blindness; Picasso symbolically, Oedipus by self infliction, and Frankenstein's monster at birth when his eyes are extremely sensitive to light.

All three also underwent a form of crucifixion; Picasso symbolically, Oedipus when he is exposed on the hillside by his father, the monster, both when he is created and when he dies under the sign of a burning cross. Finally, all three characters also experience the pain of exile; Picasso at the turn of the century, and again in the 1930's, in protest against Franco, Oedipus by his own edict, and the monster by his being violently ostracized from society from the day of his creation.

The Hanged Man symbol, with which Picasso closely identified, also features in the Frankenstein movie. In an early scene, parts of a murderer's corpse are stolen from a gallows, to be used in the creation of the monster.

A further association involves the monster's huge fee, which Picasso would have related, in an instant, to the 'Swollen Feet' of his alter ego Oedipus.

The only real human contact the monster makes is with a little girl called Maria who picks some flowers and offers one to the monster. The flower girl is another important psychological symbol, for Picasso, which is present in numerous important works. In the movie, after the monster inadvertently kills the flower girl, she makes a second symbolic appearance, in the guise of Dr Frankenstein's bride, holding her wedding bouquet.

The concealed portrait of the monster in "The Unknown Masterpiece," appears to have its right eye hanging out, a detail that links him symbolically with Odin, who put out one of his eyes and hung inverted from a tree, like Oedipus.

In regard to the concentration of Germanic themes, such as Frankenstein, Wagner and Odin, there is a further level of interpretation which seems to be preoccupied with the rise of Hitler and the Third Reich. In "The Unknown Masterpiece," Picasso, in the time-honored tradition of Daumier, appears to identify the dominant force, Olga, with Nazi Germany, making a deceptive and vicious attack on the helpless victim, Europe, on the left.

* The death of Dr Frankenstein is alluded to but left somewhat ambiguous at the end of the movie, presumably in order to have a happy ending.

Alchemy of the 1934 Drawing

The Symbolists and Surrealists, with whom Picasso's art is intimately linked, sourced many of their ideas from Alchemy and Magic.

"The Unknown Masterpiece" is full of hidden alchemical and magical symbolism. The high level of this occult content indicates that it was produced for a specific magical purpose.

Picasso, like many of the great European artists celebrated today, was deeply involved with the practice of magic and alchemy.

"The Unknown Masterpiece," is full of references to alchemy. The date of its' execution, 1934, is a reference in this vein. Elsewhere in its composition, Picasso incorporated important elements from Durer's alchemical master print, Melencolia, in which the number "34" has an important cryptic significance. In alchemy, the two numerals in the number "34", refer to the two planes of spiritual and worldly existence, which are often symbolized by the triangle and the square. The great work, or goal of alchemy is itself symbolized by these numerals 3 and 4, which, when placed together, can represent the conjoining of heavenly and earthly opposites or consciousness.

A 16th century alchemical engraving

The Gesture of Hermes Trismegistus, "As Above, So Below."

The Downward Pointing Finger

Concealed Yin-Yang symbol in the head and hair of Picasso

DIALOG IDEAS for the blog post:

• What themes or themes would you use identify with in your work? How would your symbols (from your room as identified in Study 2 and 3) give meaning to and work with your theme?
• Why were Picasso, Dürer and many other European artists so interested in alchemy?  

ASSIGNMENT for the blog:

Post your thoughts and ideas. Then comment on one other peer's dialog by the due date.

DUE DATE for this assignment: Saturday, Jan. 23 by midnight.