Blog 5A

Above is Salvador Dali's painting "The Temptation of St. Anthony" seen from 2 different perspectives, the one on the left being the original artwork and the one on the left being a reframed to focus more on just St. Anthony and what appears to be a giant, disproportionate , white horse.  A big difference can be made by simply reframing an image, especially this one.  In the following few paragraphs I'm going to explore these incongruities and explain them using some very sophisticated terms.

First of all, I was drawn to the original image for a variety of reasons. The main reason being how bizarre the images.  At first glance it is simply a cross bearing, naked man attempting to ward of a menacing parade of a giant horse and giant elephants, all with extremely elongated legs.  The number of details incorporated into this ominous parade create visual intensity as the creatures are meant to represent several forms of temptation that have been sent to corrupt the naked man, St. Anthony.  Also, the way Dali was able to create space in the image conveys how the odds are stacked against St. Anthony as he must stand up to this slew of giant creatures with literally nothing but a cross.  The optimization of space also helps give an idea of how large these creatures must be as they fade into the distance while still maintaing such impressive stature.

I chose to reframe the image the way I did because it displays the place where the most action is taking place.  By perceiving the lines of the image, specifically the arm and line of vision of St. Anthony, it can be seen that the giant horse is the most threatening creature at the moment.

I think Dali framed the image the way he did because it includes all the elements necessary to truly understand the paintings meaning.  While the images affine in the fact that they portray a challenge for St. Anthony, they contrast in that the original shows the challenge as much more staggering.   The interpretational  views of the painting can also be changed by reframing.  While the objective view that there is a challenge at hand for St. Anthony is demonstrable in both images, the subjective meaning of the painting (St. Anthony being faced with a number of temptations) is lost when the additional elements of the image are cropped out.