Van Gogh vs Salvador Dali

Van Gogh vs Salvador Dali The focus of the paper is to make a comparison and contrasts between Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ and Salvador Dali’s ‘Persistence of time’. While Van Gogh’s theme formed the basis of expressionism in twentieth century, Dali initially became a leader of the Surrealist movement and later on developed interests in psychology and science, both movements influencing their beliefs and formal approaches in distinctive ways. The ‘Persistence of Time’ is regarded as one of the most famous paintings of Salvador Dali. The painting is rendered in yellow, faint brown and blue colors and has earned a world-wide recognition for Dali.

Like Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ that shows typical moonlit scene in Saint-Remy asylum’s neighborhood where he stayed for more than a year during his last period of life, Dali’s painting resembles Port Lligat, his home. Dali uses sandy beaches and other imagery to which he had been exposed to as a child in his home town. Similar to Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’, the ‘Persistence of Time’ could have several interpretations. Although, some could be more meaningful, others remain elusive. The contents of Dali’s ‘Persistence of Time’ are not only puzzling but open to interpretation.

Contrary to Van Gogh, Dali was also a philosopher, besides an artist as mostly known. While VanGogh’s was expressionist, Dali was initially a surrealist and later on developed interests in psychology and science. ‘Persistence of Time’ is no more than a collection of theme that are perception of time, reality, death, birth, and sexual desire. Orange clock placed on the rectangular table-like object is attacked by the ants show the anxiety related with time. This specific psychology as well as understanding of the reality of death could configure the viewer’s behavior.

Furthermore, Dali uses light in the painting, in contrast to Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’, for communicating themes of this painting. On the basis of the arguments presented in the paper, it can be concluded that Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ and Salvador’s ‘Persistence of Time’ although had some common aspects, themes of both Van Gogh and Salvador differ. While Van Gogh was an expressionist, Dali was initially a surrealist and later on developed interest in psychology and science, both movements influencing their beliefs and formal approaches in distinctive ways. Van GoghSalvador Dali