Posted 4 years ago
Golgatha
(214 items)
This oil painting on veneer, 52 cm x 67 cm, was made and signed by Danish surrealist painter Harry Carlsson in 1940. He started painting in a more traditional style, but ended up as surrealist. Among other places, he exhibited at The Arts Club of Chicago. You can see the painting on the wall in my library in my post about a Socrates bust. Interpret the painting as you like.
Very interesting painting...
Symbolically, I see Cancer, the crab, a feminine principle, though in astrology I think it is ruled by the Moon not Venus, though of course Venus is the goddess of love & is traditionally representative of femininity. The palm fronds perhaps suggest an exotic, tropical place (let's just call it "otherness"). The distorted/contorted human figure is androgynous - muscular, yet also voluptuous & fleshy. The disjointed pieces of antique furniture...perhaps a reference to the breakdown of the 19th century by modernity? Or simply a compositional device?
As for the hole in the "ceiling" that reveals the universe...well, maybe the vastness of eternity imposing itself upon the transient vanity of humankind. :-)
Thanks IronLace for your intelligent interpretation. I have another one, given the year 1940: The Nazi attack on Europe.
Cool piece..
cool piece , but i think this painting is probably before operation Weserubung , and Denmark was actually an protectorate and got minor involvent in the war later later this painting is part of the Autotelic Movement, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote about the flow of the agens (action), act, later psychologist refute
this group was not intrested in symbolism but in drive !,
the nazi attack in Europe got nothing to do with it , by the way the second world started 01-09-1939 Poland ( actually the end of the Chamberlain squeeze ) see Munich
Thanks apostata.