Meret Oppenheim was born in 1913 and died in 1985. She was a Swiss born in Germany in which she later went on to Switzerland to continue her life there. She created the art piece Le Déjeuner en fourrure when she was only 23 years of age and continued on her artist life till she died.In addition, a fun fact about her artwork was that she came along this idea of putting fur on a teacup and spoon after having a talk with Pablo Piccasso. Picasso had made a joke about Meret Oppenheim’s bracelet saying how anything could be covered in fur and this inspired her to come up with this artwork.
I came across this artwork when looking at the Meret Oppenheim exhibit in the museum. When I first saw it I had to do like a double take on it because it was such an unusual piece of artwork that I had never seen before. After examining the teacup, spoon, and saucer I was thinking about how it would feel to hold the teacup knowing that it would be unsatisfying and confusing. The teacup, spoon, and saucer give the person viewing it an abnormal feeling when looking at or even when touching it. Even the thought of touching the artwork was very strange.
The art piece Le Déjeuner en fourrure translated into English is “Breakfast in Fur” or sometimes can be “Lunch in Fur”. This artwork is a normal teacup and spoon covered in fur which gives it this weird and uncomfortable feeling when looking at it. The art piece Le Déjeuner en fourrure is a representation of modernism. It specifically symbolizes surrealism. Surrealism is the art of exploring unconscious thoughts and dreams. This is a prime example of surrealism because of the combinations of objects that we usually wouldn’t see together. It creates a disturbing image and breaks our expectations since we wouldn’t expect to see fur on a teacup going along at the same time. Another reason why this art piece reflects surrealism is because of how bizarre it looks and feels. The sensation you would get when picking up this teacup is completely different from holding an ordinary teacup. As you touch the teacup, spoon, or saucer you get an odd feeling. Furthermore if you were to drink tea out of the teacup it would also give you a strange feeling as you try and taste the tea.
Efe, This is one of my favorite Modernist works. I still remember how surprised I was the first time I came across it at the museum. To me, there is something about this fur teacup that seems to go quite nicely with Kafka – maybe because it blends something quite ordinary (a cup and saucer) with something so totally strange?