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Robert Motherwell |
How would you paint a feeling or a mood, for example, sadness or loss of freedom? It isn't necessary to use recognizable objects. This painting by Robert Motherwell refers to a war that happened when he was a young man and expresses his feelings about what happened to the people who lost. Without knowing anything else about the painting, what mood or feelings do you think he was trying to express?
Motherwell created more than one hundred paintings referring to the Spanish Civil War, which took place from 1936 to 1939 (the #34 in the title tells us that this work is the thirty-fourth one that he did). A civil war is one of the worst kinds of wars because people in the same country fight each other instead of a foreign enemy. There was a civil war in the United States from 1861 to 1865, during which the northern and the southern parts of the country fought over many things, including the existence of slavery in the South. At the end of the war, which the northern states won, many people gained their freedom with the abolishment of slavery. However, the leader of the winning side in Spain, Francisco Franco, took away much of the freedom that the Spanish people had enjoyed. This ended many of the liberties that existed under the Spanish Republic mentioned in Motherwell's title.
The colors of the Spanish Republic's flag can be seen behind the large, black forms of the painting. The use of these black forms to cover up the colors behind could symbolize a number of things, such as death and life, dark and light, or oppression and freedom. These feelings are echoed by the use of the word elegy in the title. Look up the word elegy in the dictionary and try to understand why Motherwell might have used it. Can you think of any other titles for the painting?