Author Archives: giselle.medina

Max Ernst – Gala Éluard (1924)

Max Ernst was born in Bruhl, a place near Cologne, in Germany on April 2, 1891.  He was raised in a strict Catholic family, with both of his parents dedicated to training their children into God-fearing and talented individuals.  Ernst’s father, who was also deaf, inspired Ernst as well as introduced him to painting from a young age. Ernst studied philosophy at the University of Bonn in 1914; however, he later dropped out due to his keen interest in the arts.   

On Wednesday, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  While looking through the various artworks in the Modern and Contemporary Art Department, one piece, in particular, caught my eye and that was Max Ernst’s Gala Éluard (1924) in gallery 901.  I went through the whole department twice looking for a piece that called to me and on both occasions, Max Ernst’s piece made me do a double take.  The eyes are what made me stop and stare due to the large brown eyes seemed to be following wherever I went which was pretty creepy. The longer I stared, the more I realized that there is no emotion given off from the eyes, the eyes seem dead, daydreaming, or staring off in a distance.  

Gala Éluard is an oil on a canvas painting.  The painting is a portrait of Gala Éluard, who was a lover to three members of the Surrealist movement: her two husbands, poet Paul Éluard and artist Salvador Dalí, and Max Ernst.  The portrait was based on Man Ray’s photograph of Éluard’s eyes. “With curious forms rising from her unfurling forehead, Éluard becomes an imagined embodiment of Surrealism’s wide-eyed interest in art’s power to explore the mysterious territories of the unconscious mind” (“Gala Éluard”).  

Modernism is a movement in the arts that strives to break with classical and traditional forms.  Examples of this modernism are impressionism, expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Max Ernst is an example of a surrealist artist.  Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the late 1910s, early 1920s which sought to release the imagination of the subconscious.  This can be seen in Gala Éluard considering that in the painting, it’s as if her mind is being unfolded (her forehead is not shown).  

Questions about the work:  

What made Ernst paint Gala Éluard in such a way?  The top half of the painting probably depicts what’s on Éluard’s mind so, why is there minimal activity? Shouldn’t the mind be filled with thoughts?

Sources:

“Gala Éluard.” The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/490182.

“Max Ernst, and His Paintings.” Ubu Imperator, 1923 – by Max Ernst, www.max-ernst.com/.

Voorhies, James. “Surrealism.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/surr/hd_surr.htm (October 2004)

From the beginning of “The Metamorphosis,” I was instantly reminded of the movie The Fly (1958).  The Fly is of the science fiction genre – a universal literature that began in the early 1800’s, as a reaction to the growing ambivalence to science and technology which deals with how these elements have changed people, for better or worse.  

In The Fly, the victim Andre Delambre mutates to a human fly with matter transmitter (Mr. Delambre’s own invention).  His “metamorphosis” was due to a fly accidentally going into his machine and mixes their atoms. Though it is unknown how Gregor Samsa underwent his metamorphosis, there are still similarities and differences between the two characters that don’t include both being turned into bugs.  

For example, Kafka states that Gregor had started to behave more like a cockroach in that “it appeared his words were no longer comprehensible” (216) and becoming less sensitive to pain.  For Mr. Delambre, since the beginning of his mutation, he couldn’t speak; however, major behavioral changes occurred a few days after his mutation. In Mr. Delambre’s case, he had a fly’s head and arm, but still had the brain of a human which was slowly becoming the brain of a fly.  Gregor’s behavioral change happened quicker than Mr. Delambre’s considering that Gregor was a full cockroach whereas Mr. Delambre was half fly, half human.

Mr. Delambre’s humanity is slowly but surely slipping away whereas Gregor still has humanity intact through his thoughts and emotions.  Gregor still feels proud that he was able to financially help his family in the past and is embarrassed that he can’t help them now thus showing that Gregor still considers himself as part of the family.  On the other hand, Mr. Delambre’s mind is slowly deteriorating. At one point, he couldn’t differentiate the fly’s mind from his and went on a spiral, destroying/erasing all of his work.

Because of each man’s metamorphosis, they lost something they loved.  Gregor did his best to adjust to his new bug life; however, his family does not accept him.  His mother cannot look at him without fainting and his father is just angry at Gregor. Mr. Delambre does not have the same situation considering his wife, Mrs. Helene Delambre, tries her best to find the fly that went into the machine to reverse the mutation.  However, the fly is never found and Mr. Delambre convinces his wife to kill him (he would rather be dead than an insane hybrid). Both men are killed by a loved one, but Gregor’s death isn’t by choice.  His father kills Gregor because he misunderstands Grete (Gregor’s sister) and thinks Gregor attacked the mother.  

1. Why do you think Toyo-o continues to be involved with Manago even after he suspects that she is a demon of some sort?

When Toyo-o saw Manago again, it was in the Tanabe store.  At first, he was taken by surprise as well as didn’t want anything to do with her given that he was convinced that Manago was the devil.  However, his sister and her husband were so moved by her extravagant story (the last two paragraphs on page 641), that they welcomed her into their household.  On page 642 Akinari states, “In a day or so Manago, ingratiating herself to her host and hostess, pleaded with them tearfully to win back Toyo-o for her.”  Ingratiating means intended to gain approval or favor, likebehaving in a way to gain an advantage.  Therefore, Manago was not genuine in her pleas.  Manago is a serpent so of course, she was able to convince Toyo-o or put him “under her spell” considering she can skillfully manipulate anyone just with her voice. Despite this, I believe that even if she wasn’t a serpent, Manago could still manipulate Toyo-o.  He is a weak character that had everything handed to him and is told what to do.  Going back to page 642, Manago skillfully instructed Toyo-o’s sister and her husband to help her [Manago] with getting Toyo-o back in which they were able to convince him to go through with formal wedding rites.

My name is Giselle Medina and I am currently a sophomore.  My major is in Creative Writing/Journalism with an interest in radio journalism.  I am a member of the WBMB Radio Station Marketing Team which is kind of what is leading me to minor in Marketing (but I might not go through with it).

A fun fact about me is that I love to bake – which I believe I mentioned in class.  I am the designated baker in my family, so for almost every event or holiday I’m the one who takes care of the desserts.  I was going to go to the Culinary Institute of America to pursue a career in the culinary arts but backed out.  I felt that baking was sort of my hobby and I could slowly pursue that as a career at any point in my life.  For example, I found an institute that I can take certain baking or pastry courses for 6 to 8 weeks and by 9 months, I could be a professional baker.  Therefore, I plan to use my summers or any vacation time to do this and hopefully one day I can open a bakery or something of the sorts and then I can accomplish one of my dreams.

I decided to major in Journalism because I realized that I really like to investigate and report on things.  This started when I took a Forensic Science course in high school and I was required to do some reports on some crime investigations.  My want to be on the radio is solely because of the Z100 Morning Show – which I have been listening to almost every day since I was in middle school.  I love the chill vibe that the show has, and I plan on hopefully interning there in the spring.

Aside from my plans for the future, I am a bookworm and love to listen to music.  I can read any book as long as it interests me and once it bores me, I stop reading it unless it’s an assigned reading.  I also love to look for new music and am always on Spotify.