Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

     On February 10th, 2012, I had the pleasure of going to Hartford, Connecticut to visit the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. It was a bright sunny day; the day before my birthday, and I got to spend the day with my mother. She loves art and I had saw on the web site that there was quite a selection of Renaissance and Romantic Era pieces, which are her favorite, so I knew she would enjoy this museum.
     When we first drove past the museum we were in awe of it's size. The entire building feels as though it is towering over you and the look of the front reminds me of a castle and gets you even more excited for the immense amount of works that are inside. I do not ever remember going to this museum as a kid which made me even more excited because this would be something that I had never got to experience before.

The Wadsworth Atheneum is the oldest public art museum in America. This magnificent museum was founded by Daniel Wadsworth in 1842. Daniel Wadsworth was one of the first important American patrons of the arts. He had a collection of approximately 50,000 works of art. He had plans to establish a gallery of fine arts, however, instead, he was convinced that he should open an atheneum meaning a cultural institution with a library, containing artifacts and works of art.The museum is devoted to history, literature, art and science. The building itself contains five buildings that all connect each designed at different periods. One building is the Gothic Revival Wadsworth Building designed by the architects Ithiel Town and Alexander Jackson Davis in 1844. In the 1860s, the original building got an addition of the Watkinson Library of Reference. Benjamin Wistar Morris designed additional space for the art collection with the Tudor Revival Colt Memorial of 1910 and the Renaissance Revival Morgan Memorial of 1910-15. Also added to the Wadsworth was the Avery Memorial in 1934, which became the first American museum building with a modern International Style Interior. 1969 was the year that the Goodwin Building opened. It was designed in a late modernist style and the entire facility was devoted to the fine arts for the first time which was Wadsworth's original plan.

Inside when we first walked in

More of the impressive
interior

Looking Up in Part
of the Museum

Daniel Maclise
The Disenchantment of Bottom 1832
oil on canvas

As we approached the museum, I was impressed at the old style building. It felt as if you were walking into a church with its towering pillars and marble inlays.  As we walked into the museum, there was a gift shop to the right and the admissions in front with a wonderful woman who was very helpful. She was able to tell us about the certain areas we might want to check out and gave us maps and pamphlets that would also guide us with our experience during the day.. There is a center courtyard called Grengras Court and court areas throughout the museum. The interior courtyard is wide open with a few paintings and is wide open to the second floor. There are sections of the museum that are closed off to the public and you are re-routed to other areas. The flooring is mostly marble and each section of the museum is dedicated to a specific form of art. My mother loved the romantic era. She did not like the Claire Beckett or Patti Smith section, she found some of it too morbid and boring for her. I was shocked by some of the pictures from the Claire Beckett collection. I was not allowed to take pictures in there, but there was one photo of a woman who's arm had been blown off, it looked so real, I actually felt pain when I looked at it. The photo absolutely had an affect on me. There was also a Colts and Quilts exhibit that contained things from the Civil War as well as paintings and political and military posters and artifacts. It was very educational and interesting.

Willem Claesz Heda
Still Life with Goblet
1631 oil on panel

Detail of the goblet and reflection

 The Renaissance to Romantic sections included many portraits including Hals, Panini, Strozzi. And the European Art included Dali, Picasso and Ernst. Willem Claesz Heda had an oil painting called Still Life with Goblet from 1631 which I found to be incredible. The detail that Heda was able to capture was amazing and the glares in the glass and metal objects made the painting look almost like a photograph. Other paintings like The Crucifixion by Bernard van Orley reminded me of the paintings that we were talking about in my art history class. The Disenchantment of Bottom painting by Jan Sanders van Hemmesen was an amazing painting to me as well. I love Shakespeare and it was a depiction of a scene from A Midsummer's Night Dream which made me very excited about the painting.

Bernard van Orley
The Crucifixion 1515-20
Oil on Panel

 There was also a section of furniture from the colonial times as well. There was a beautiful cradle made of ornate wood and a crib that was carved by hand. I found that certain areas of the museum were sparse but my mother loved it. She loves older carved furniture especially Victorian style.
Other areas on the first floor included landscapes which were all breathtaking and also statues such as the one called Puck on a Toadstool by Harriet Goodhue Hosmer. I thought this marble statue was really adorable. The detail that Hosmer was able to carve was very impressive, I could never do something like that. There were also areas where we saw Byzantine art and Egyptian art. There was not a huge collection of Egyptian art, however, I still enjoyed it all  the same; I really enjoy Egyptian art.

Harriet Goodhue Hosmer
Puck on a Toadstool 1856
Marble

Much of the second floor was closed due to renovations, however, there were some sections that had contemporary art as well as Civil War art. It included art about slavery and African American art and history. It was quite fascinating and interesting and sad all at the same time. It made you feel the pain that people went through during that time. There was also American Decorative Art which contained massive paintings that depicted scenes from American history.

Byzantine Art
Workshop of Niccolo di Buonaccorso
The Annunciation
Tempera and oil on panel

When I went back to the first floor I went to the European section, however, on my way, I was able to see a few other things I had not noticed yet such as the contemporary art section. There was one piece in the corner that actually gave me the creeps. It was a piece covered completely in rugs and a foot sticking out. It almost looked as though there was an actual person underneath the rugs. It was a piece created by Nick Cave called Soundsuit created in 2009. Another piece that I found interesting was a piece that when you look at it from far away, it looks as thought it was made of metal or some kind of hard material. However, looking closer, the artist, Elizabeth Murray created the piece with shaped canvases and painted with oil. The piece was created in 1986 and is called Slip Away. Its a massive piece that hung up on the wall just across the rug piece. It looked really interesting and I could not help but walk all around to see it from all angles.

Collection  of Egyptian artifacts

Egyptian Artifacts

When I left the contemporary section, around the corner was a statue of two women and it was extremely detailed and full of emotion. It was a piece called Pereat (Let Him Perish) created by Orazio Andreoni in the 1800s. It was a beautiful piece that contained so much passion and anger; it was very interesting.

Elizabeth Murray
Slip Away 1986
oil on shaped canvas

Nick Cave
Soundsuit 2009
Found crocheted and hooked rugs
knitted yarn and metal armature

The European Art from the 20th Century section contained amazing pieces of art as well. In the center was a water fountain which created a lovely atmosphere. I was able to see some amazing works of art. Such as works from Picasso including, The Artist created in 1963 and Silent Prayer by Stanley Spencer in 1951. They are both very unique and interesting pieces. The most amazing piece that I saw in that section of the museum, however, was the piece by Salvador Dali. It is called, Apparition of Face and Fruit Dish on a Beach. This piece is full of interesting scenes depending on what part of the painting you look. I could not stop starring at this piece. I found it very details and interesting and the way that he created each part to be separate individual scene and be part of an entire piece at the same time. 

Pablo Picasso
The Artist 1963
oil on canvas

Stanley Spencer

Silent Prayer 1951
oil on canvas



Orazio Andreoni
Pereat (Let Him Perish) 1800s
marble



Apparition of Face and Fruit Dish on a Beach

Salvador Dali

Also in the European art of the 20th Century art section, was an amazing work of art by an artist named Salvador Dali. I am familiar with his work and admire it greatly so I jumped at the chance to learn even more about this artist.

Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali was born on May 11th, 1904 in the agricultural town of Figures, Spain. His father was a notary and was well off. Dali got to spend his childhood between Figures and the family's summer home in a village called Caclaques. It was at this summer home that his parents had built Dali his very first art studio. He loved his home town and many of his paintings reflected this love with scenery from Spain.

Close up of the face/fruit

bowl/wine glass

 At a young age Dali began studying art. After the age of six, when he wanted to be a cook, he began to study philosophy. At the age of seven, Dali was quoted saying, "Now, I only want to be Salvador Dali" (Neret). At the age of ten, he discovered impressionism and the great names behind the art. He studied impressionism, pointillism, futurism, cubism, neo-cubism, and fauvism. 

He was full of curiosity and often quoted the philosopher Francesco Pujois a compatriot. He would use culinary delirium in a lot of his works for symbolic and political statements. He would also use the Ampurdan Plain as the landscape for many of his works because to him, it was the most beautiful place in the world. 

After Dali graduated, he tried to convince his dad to let him attend the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid. His mother, his only supporter of his art, passed away of breast cancer, which Dali was very distraught over. When he finally did attend, he grew bored of it and of the professors. His talents were quickly recognized and he had his first one-man show in Barcelona. He then became internationally known for three of his paintings, including, The Basket of Bread. These paintings were later exhibited in Pittsburgh in 1928. He soon began to encourage other students to demonstrate against the professors and because of it, he got expelled.

While he was studying in Paris in 1927, he was introduced to Picasso by Manuel Angeles Ortiz who was a cubist painter that followed Picasso's work as well. Although he respected Picasso and learned from him, he always believed that he was better than him. Dali had a very eccentric egotism and believed himself to be the only real surrealist. Dali also joined the surrealists, led by former Dadist Andre Breton. Through him, he met Gala Eluard who later became his lover, muse and business manager.

From 1940-1955, Dali and his wife moved to America to continue his painting. He wrote a novel about a fashion salon for automobiles. 

Detail of right side of the face 

In 1955, he returned to Spain, and became a recluse. His wife was senile and had been feeding him a concoction non-prescribed medicines and thus damaging his nervous system. As a result, he was left with a terrible tremble and pain in his hand destroying his ability to paint. Gala passed away in 1982 and thus Dali went mental, he tried to dehydrate himself feeling that it would put him in a state of suspended animation. He possibly attempted suicide by setting him and Gala's home on fire, but was rescued. He spent the rest of his days in his art museum, ad on Jan. 23, 1989, while listening to his favorite record, "Triston and Issolde", he died of heart failure in Fagueres, Spain at the age of 84. 

Detail of the rope and fabric
and shadows. 

In 1938, Dali created a piece called, Apparition of Face and Fruit Dish on the Beach. This piece was created with oils on canvas and is 45 inches by 57 inches. It is a surrealist style and part of the landscape genre. This piece contains so many different elements that every section of the piece has something new. The detail and shading within it was amazing to me. I absolutely love how everything seems to form within itself and become something new. Dali paints illusions throughout this painting. If one looks at the painting one way, they will see certain things, and when they look at it another way, they see something completely different. For example, the dog at one point seems like a mountain, however, from a different angle, you can see the form of a dog. Also, in the face, the eyes are not just eyes but a window and a cannon. The collar of the dog is also working as a bridge for the piece. The handle of the bowl is acting as the face's nose bridge. The sand also acts as the texture of the skin of the face. Also, the pears at the top of the fruit bowl becomes golden waves of hair.

Detail of top right corner.

Dali had a great interest with more conventional forms of perspective and the Dutch and Italian arts. He also was interested in the development of the famous double image paranoiac critical method. He enjoyed producing images that could be read in multiple ways. He was fascinated with optical effects and visual perception and three dimensional illusions. He also loved to experiment with amorphousness. 

This piece is actually a political view of the Civil War in Spain and is four hidden scenes in one. The Fruit bowl is the chest and front leg of the dog, which I did not even notice until I read about it. Dali believed that the war was inevitable and had little or no international importance. This piece was suppose to represent delirium of auto-strangulation in Spain. Because of this painting, the surrealists decided to dismiss him from the group in 1939. There are four scenes hidden in one painting. These scenes are the Afghan dog, and table with a fruit bowl, and a desert landscape looking out into the sea. The images overlap each other and combine this wonderful masterpiece. Dali said that the ambiguity inside an image makes a new image appear . He also believes that the amount of images are only limited by the intellects paranoiac capacity. 




Bibliography

• Gombrich, E. H. "Salvador Dali". The Story of Art. 2012. www.arlindo-correia.com/040101.html
• "History". The Wadsworth Atheneum. Hartford:2012. www.wadsworth.org/about/history
• Neret, Gilles. Salvador Dali. Germany: Benedikt Taschen Verlag, 2000.
• "Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali Domenech". The Dali Museum. Salvador Dali Museum Inc. 2011. www.thedali.org/history/biography.html