PAINTING CRITIQUES - THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY

KOD KURSUS :

CWT 3172

KURSUS :

APRESIASI ESTETIKA

TAJUK :

PAINTING CRITIQUES

THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY BY SALVADOR DALI

IN YEAR 1931

NAMA                                    : SITI ROHANI BINTI MOHAMMED REDZWA

NO. MATRIK                         : C17A0353

NAMA PENSYARAH           : ENCIK NIK SHAHMAN BIN NIK AHMAD ARIFF

KELAS                                   : L2

In this essay, I will discuss about my favorite painting and I will judge this art work critically. My favorite painting is “The Persistence of Memory” which was painted by Salvador Dali in year 1931. There are a lot of reasons why I choose this art work as my favorite painting. First and foremost, this painting has everything that associated with the Kantian’s four judgment in his critique of judgment.

                        In my humble opinion, this painting is very beautiful. It is because I found out that the color in this painting is blended so well that I can’t even found any mistake from the painting itself. What I mean by the painting’s color is blended so well and doesn’t even have any mistake in it is because, this painting looks so smooth and we will feel pleasure and relax when we take a look at it. I also think that the color in the painting catches the eye.

                        Based on my first opinion about the painting, I found out that my own statement about the painting is 100% had got to do with one of the Kantian’s four judgment which is the agreeable. This is because, the agreeable is a purely sensory judgment. The agreeable judgment is a purely subjective judgment, which based on the inclination alone. This statement also had got something to do with the judgment of beauty which is the beautiful.

                        The judgment of beauty is what the Kantian called the free play between the cognitive powers of imagination and understanding. We call an object beautiful, because its form fits our cognitive powers and enables such a free play the experience of which is pleasurable to us. As what I mention earlier that this painting gave me pleasure when I look at it. The judgment that something is beautiful is a claim that it possesses the form of finality, that it appears to have been designed with a purpose, even though it does not have any apparent practical function.

                        The most valuable reason that makes me choose this painting or art work as my favorite painting is because this art work had given me a lot of lesson from it and it taught me about life. This painting makes a statement on the arbitrary concept of time. Dali was enamored with the psychology of dreams and the subconscious mind. This art work has multiple interpretations.

                        Not only does it depict a dream, a world where time is irrelevant and erratic, but it is also a depiction of Einstein’s theory of relativity, that time is relative and not fixed. Either way, we can take something away from this painting that time is what you make of it. We all have the same amount of hours in the day. Therefore, instead of making excuses about how you don’t have time to apply for that job, think of this art work and remember, time is a concept. You can construct your future on whatever time frame you choose.

                        My most valuable reason about why I choose this art work as my favorite painting really does associated with one of the Kantian’s four judgment which is the good. The good is essentially a judgment that something is ethical. It is the judgment that something conforms with moral law, which, in the Kantian sense, is essentially a claim of modality, a coherence with a fixed and absolute notion of reason. It is in many ways the absolute opposite of the agreeable, in that it is a purely objective judgment. Which things are either moral or they are not.

                        Last but not least, I found out that this painting gave a little bit of fear effect to me because of the picture of a melting pocket watch. In my own opinion, I think that this painting want us to know that mankind is in loss due to the time that being wasted. Due to my imagination of the definition from this painting, I really think that this painting really does make me feel scared of it.

                        So, based on my last statement, this painting does have got something to do with Kantian’s last judgment which is the sublime. The judgment that something is sublime is a judgment that it is beyond the limits of comprehension, that it is an object of fear. However, Kant makes clear that the object must not actually be threatening, it merely must be recognized as deserving of fear.

                        In conclusion, I must say that Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgment really has a relationship with this painting. I also think that both Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgment and this painting had given me a lot of moral value and lesson. It also gave me a lot of understanding about life and many more benefit that I never learn before in my entire life.