20th Century Art: Cubism and Surrealism

Cubism: 

1. Pablo Picasso, Woman with Pears. 1909

This painting is a portrait of Fernande Olivier, Picasso's partner. This painting is an example of cubism because of the way the figure is made up of many different geometric shapes. The entire piece, except for the rounded pears in the background, is comprised of different angular shapes. Picasso used earth-like colors such as brown for the woman and the pears, and dark green for the background. 
2. Pablo Picasso,  Ma Jolie. 1911-1912
This painting, also done by Picasso, was done to illustrate a song Picasso heard often at a Partisan music hall. This painting is of a woman playing a popular song that had the phrase "ma jolie" in it, which was included at the bottom of the painting. This piece almost appears to be abstract, but one can tell that it is a cubist painting because of the many triangular and rectangular shapes in it. This painting also used mostly earth tones like brown and beige, but also included some blue which adds a coolness to the artwork.

Surrealism:
1. Max Ernst, Two Children are Threatened by a Nightingale. 1924

Two Children are Threatened by a Nightingale  is a surreal work done by Max Ernst. Ernst takes a seemingly average framed painting of a landscape and adds pieces both on and within the frame to create a surrealist piece. One of the two children is holding a knife, possibly in an attempt to fight off the nightingale. The other child seems to have fallen ill and is lying toward the center of the foreground of the painting. A man, in motion, is reaching for a large and out of place doorknob. With his other arm he holds a third child. A large red fence is to the left of the child wielding the knife, and the man stands on top of a red house. At the bottom of the frame it says "2 enfants sont menaces par un rossignol M. Ernst" which translates to the title of the work and Ernst's name.
2. Salvador Dali, Illuminated Pleasures. 1929
This piece illustrates Dali's perception of reality and the anxieties he experiences in the darkness of a movie theater. The color of the sky in the background fades from a light blue to a very light pink which gives the painting a eerie feeling. The color blue is repeated in one of the three upright boxes presented in the foreground. Off to the right is a person hiding their face in distress. This could translate to silent cries one might hear coming from another person in a dark movie theater. Another of the three boxes in the foreground has countless suited men riding bikes either right or left, filling that box. Each of these men has a white bubble painted above their heads, potentially showing that all of them have thoughts that are similar to each other's. Dali included many things in this work, all expressing different dreams or anxieties he has.