Title: The Seer(1914-15, Oil on canvas)
Artist: Giorgio De Chirico (Italian, born Greece. 1888-1978)
James Thrall Soby Bequest, 1979
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Team name: Pretty Ladies
Acting: Ellie and Lesley / Directing: Christine and Shenny
we turned a 2D piece into a 3D part and created an environment that reflects the original work.
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The oil painting “The Seer” by Giorgio de Chirico is one of his most famous surreal artworks which is painted in winter 1914-1915 in Paris and now exhibiting in the MoMA museum in New York (moma.org). The painter Giorgio de Chirico, the Italian artist who found the Scuola metafisica art movement, is famous for his surreal art style that uses inanimate objects as symbols of human society and mysterious background which usually makes no sense to daily life. And particularly in his painting “The Seer,” he created an odd scene with dark color and surreal figures.
This painting portraits a scene of a person sitting in front of a palace sketching on a blackboard. The man on the left sits with his back straight in a red box; his head slightly inclines with his chin forward to the blackboard in front of him suggesting a suspicious attitude to the content on the blackboard, which seems to be the sketch of the environment surrounding him. On his head, instead of real eyes of him, his looking at the world through a fake eye on his forehead implying the justness of his sight, in other words, his view is not bothered by his own emotions or bias. Also, there is a ruler behind his body which adds to the atmosphere of justice and suspicious. The man is wearing the dark red suit with green collars looks like substantial tree leaves, which is suggesting nature together with the box beneath him that has nature wood marks on it. The background behind the main character is a palace in the distance. The castle is in ancient Egypt style with massive pillars supporting the roof as symbols of philosophy and truth. On the blackboard in front of him, there is an unfinished sketch of the plaza in white chalk, the lines are blurry and show the insecurities of the character. On the ground, instead of having the typical floor that a square usually has, he drew wood floor patterns on it which is usually seen in houses. There is also a black shadow with a shape of the human, who could be a killer, on the floor. The implement of this darkness significantly increased the oddness of the painting.
From the shadow of the figure and in the background, it is reasonable to suggest that the time this painting portrays should be either sunset or sunrise. And when it is the sunrise or evening of the day, the lightning is usually mild and calm, which corresponds to the color in the painting that has low lightness, which makes the atmosphere more composed and dangerous. The way Giorgio de Chirico depict time is fantastic, he implies time by drawing the shadow skillfully on the objects in his painting, by using highlight, the whole picture becomes vivid.
“The Seer” grabs our attention from miles apart by its unique color use and shape of objects. It fully expressed the surrealism and it’s created in a single retro style. The objects in the painting are apparent and detailed; however, the way Giorgio De Chirico set the objectives allows us to play with our imagination entirely. The first thing we noticed when we first saw this painting was the colossal figure on the very left side sitting on a vertical wooden box. The picture seems like s/he is wearing a pair of Kelly green armor and a golden brown bodysuit underneath along with turning her/his head in a very euphemistic way. You can see the crown that s/he’s wearing it’s a combination of several black arc lines and a circle with a star decoration placed in the middle. The shape of the crown even makes us feel like it’s revealing the idea of the human eye when we look at it closely and carefully. Moreover, there’s a huge black horizontal drawing board with the original yellow frame around together with a sketch of an architecture that’s done by white chalk facing the figure on the left. Furthermore, there’s also a first yellow colored scale ruler placed upside down in right angle besides the value and the wooden box. We almost ignore the scale ruler when we first looked at it since the color is similar to the buff ground with a few black straight lines across in the back. On the background, you can see the sky in cyan and a colossal buff architecture with exquisite design placed in the middle along with a wall full of tawny bricks. What’s more interesting is the humanlike shadow that comes through the middle. Although the objects are all detailed and precise, the whole painting looks abstract and mysterious.
This artwork might express just the moment before his or her death. The mood of this art piece is portrayed as mysterious, enigmatic, and also a little odd. A person who viewers are not even sure if it is a man or a woman appears to be turning a peculiar white facemask away from the reality of what is happening to him or her in the covert situation. The strange person is trapped in the building, and at the same time, s/he looks like drawing a massive door in front of him or her. The large door symbolizes the happening in the actual world which is beyond uncontrollability his or her practice. S/he keeps drawing the door because s/he thinks s/he is a person who is not framed for hardships; his or her act and thought is just standstill to overcome and solve problems. The massive dull brown door is the only door in the painting, and it seems not to stick and also not move even a bit. The final entry represents as his or her mind, which would serve s/he shuts the doors of his or her perception of the world. The main exciting point in the artwork is a dark grey shadow of another unidentifiable person. The white mask person seems to have been turning the face since s/he realized the other strange person is in the same place. The only entry has been shut securely against any possible intrusion; so, it indicates the shadow person might appear while s/he is drawing, which is impossible the stranger got into the room. Therefore, the shadow person is him or herself. By seeing his or her turning face, we could guess s/he is afraid of the shadow person, which means s/he could not even accept who s/he is and could not open the mind to him or herself. S/he tends to refuse not only the outside of the world but also the world in his or her mind. As a result, this odd painting tried to describe the moment which s/he decided to kill him or herself. It also narrates s/he tries to escape from a harsh reality, which is very ordinary happening in our world. The artist, Giorgio De Chirico, wanted to tell us how rough this society has become; although we all do not want to admit it, people in the world have been getting hard-hearted, which is a severe problem.
Since this piece was made in the style of surrealism, the artist put hidden meanings into several elements of the painting. Mainly, this artwork symbolizes the for fear of dark aspects of our life. The melancholy and gloomy atmosphere convey to us our innermost mind and the feelings that we don’t want to expose to anyone. The mannequin represents us like a puppet, and the most intriguing part is that the face of the dummy has no features and expression. The reason that we tend to hide our emotions and internal conflicts from outside is that we are aware that these confused and chaotic feelings are considered shameful. Furthermore, we can quickly notice that the figure is not comfortable, the sitting position seems very unstable, and the number seems terrified because of the shadow coming from the opposite direction. The person’s shadow appears to be threatening the leading figure and creates a sense of perilousness. The shadow shows the harsh and bitter events that we face unexpectedly. Sometimes, we are overwhelmed with inexplicable and ambiguous fears that surround us. We actively want to avoid the situation that we confront and deny the reality that we have to go through. However, the image depicts that we are not able to resist because we’ve been suffering for a long time alone and became very feeble. The figure doesn’t have arms, so that illustrates that we are human beings who can be hurt easily. The red leggings denote danger, so it already gives a warning sign. The black chalkboard is cropped slightly, and there are some drawings on it. The design exemplifies plans. Everyone has a vision of the future and believes that dreams come true someday. It has a message that even if we are trapped in fear and difficulties, we dream. Unfortunately, the drawings are not done completely, and the shadow appears abruptly. Thus we can assume that the dream might not achieve what it is designed to fulfill. Besides, the door of the building in the back shows that the situation of the mannequin is in a confined space. We close the door of the heart and take the risk alone without asking any help.
In conclusion, this painting contains many mysterious and invisible symbols that are related to human nature. We tend not to reveal our weakness and emotions, and also hide from fear. This piece tries to express the dark side of our life that everyone has and describes our actions and attitude to fear.
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A fictional story
Peter can’t remember how long he has been walking in this dessert. It could have been three days, or four. It’s hard to memorize anything when you don’t have food or drink, and the only thing you have been doing for this whole time is walking and walking. He is not sure where this direction is leading him to, but he’s not worried, as long as he is getting further and further from the town.
He used to be a salesman in the town he grew up. His career went well when he first started; he drove to Chicago every Saturday morning with fifty suits in the back trunk. It was easy to sell them all in a two days business trip, and he could buy his two sons souvenirs of Chicago Cubs, either baseball hats or jackets. His wife never really asked for any gifts, but only told him to be home early before he left. He would still manage to get her something, usually some fake pearl pieces of jewelry. “They look as good as real ones,” he said to himself every time.
Everything changed when the economy went down. People no longer wanted suits or even fake pearl jewelry. His best friend told him to sell the baseball jackets and hats since people are still passionate about sports. He sat down with his kids and tried to tell them he might have to take their gifts away, but he couldn’t. “Boys liked them,” he said to himself.
His wife couldn’t bear anymore when he turned to the usury and lost their entire house to them, and they had a divorce. They didn’t go to the judge or the priest since they could be in just the same situation. She merely left and brought the kids with her. He didn’t cry, and it was a relief to him. He could live with rotten food in the trash bin, but not his kids. “The god knows how bad this situation is to me, he won’t let things be any worse,” he said to his friend.
It was Friday when a man the people who lent him usury found him, he told him they need an extra five hundred bucks, or else his life would be taken. He wondered how the man saw him, and the man said his friend turned him in for ten dollars.
There wasn’t any other way out before more of the usury people found him, he suffocated the man and escaped to the desert that no one has ever been to before.
The desert is almost 113 °F, and the intense sun is shining directly on him. He barely withstands his life in the desolate wasteland. He is sweating from the extreme heat, and his stomach is rumbling with hunger; he hasn’t eaten for a few days. He begins to rummage for food in his pockets and what he found is just a chocolate bar wrapper. Although he didn’t expect, he is hugely disappointed. He thinks he is going to die soon if he stays in this hopeless situation constantly and desperate thoughts make him feel more miserable. He misses his family a lot and craves to escape from this harsh reality. He wishes this to be a dream and starts to reminisce about his life, the happy moments with his family and the people he loved. He realizes that his life before the economic crisis was perfect and couldn’t be better. Even though his life’s in danger, he decides that he can’t easily give up his life for his loving children. He swears to turn over a new leaf and walks in the vast desert again, hoping for a miracle. All of sudden, the cloudless sky is darkened with gray clouds, and then the wind begins to blow massively. The sandy wind covers the desert instantly and covers his sights. There is a giant sandstorm coming to him, and that hits the desert and him. He fainted and returned himself a few hours later. He stands up and shakes the dust and sand out of his shirt. He stumbles, falls, walks again. As he keeps walking, suddenly he finds a house not too far from where he is. He walks toward the house with his last of bit strength and a full of hope. As soon as he gets there, he knocks on the red door.
Meanwhile, a gracious gentleman opens the red door and welcomes him to have a pleasant stay. The salesman is feeling surprising with his eyes wide open when he first taps into the house that even looks like an exquisite palace to him. The mansion is designed in a classic and luxurious style covered by flax yellow and the walls surround all covered with some detailed patterns. After he enters the palace, something caught his attention besides those exclusively designed pieces of furniture and walls. Everything seems just normal except the gentleman that welcomes him in the first place. The gentleman is covering in all black that the salesman can barely see his fingers and toes and not even his face. The salesman thinks he’s having a problem of hypoglycemia in the first place since he hasn’t eaten much in the past few days; however, when he comes close to recognize the gentleman’s face, he suddenly realizes that he’s a shadow. “A talking shadow!” he exclaims. The shadow quickly replies in a slow and gentle voice: “Please take things easy, I’m just as normal as you, and please follow me I’ll lead you to our dining room as you must be starving.” Although the salesman is shocked by everything he just saw, he’s too starving to care about anything except foods. He quickly follows up with the shadow to the dining room and feeling astonished by the rich cuisines such as sushi, fried rice, kimchi pancake, tacos and different choices of pasta on a fancy glass table. “Please feel free to take as much food as you would like.” says the shadow. The salesman quickly accepts the kindness of the darkness and starts eating as much food as he can.
All of a sudden, the salesman thinks the shadow is an easygoing person and start opening his heart and chatting with the darkness about his life and family.
Unexpectedly, the shadow realizes the use value of the salesman through the long talk they just had. Since the story of the salesman’s life seems unique and exciting to the shadow, the shadow murmured to himself: “Maybe he could be a better showpiece of my palace than the sketch I’m working on right now. Human mind might be more valuable than a flat sketch.” Suddenly, a hideous thought just comes to the shadow’s mind.
The shadow is flat and dull, so the darkness was feeling much ashamed. The shadow represents himself; he thought he is insignificant. He was dissatisfied with his past life because he believed he is not valuable at all when he compared him to another people’s life. Therefore, the shadow killed him, which means he decided to kill himself, for he wants to be born again. He thought it is the best determination; he also believed it was the only way to save himself. However, the easel in the palace shows up his figure immediately when he killed himself. Even though he passed away for starting a new life, he will still live same experience again and again. He will never be able to escape from his miserable life, and the drawing in the easel represents his never-ending unfortunate life. His new wretched life was already started when he died, and he keeps having one misfortune after another. This is a severely painful punishment of deciding to kill himself. It also narrates he tries to escape from a harsh reality, which is very ordinary happening in our world. We think the artist wanted to tell us how rough this society has become through this unique painting, The Seer. Although we all do not want to admit it, people in the world have been getting hard-hearted, which is a severe problem.
