I used to draw as a child, but then again, who didn’t? But as I dove into my art class, I found out that art was a lot more interesting than I thought. I visited the Getty Center as a young child, and as memory portrays it, the museum was boring and strict. So when I found out I would be venturing there once again, I was uninterested and sullen. To my surprise, I loved the trip. The architecture was the first thing to appeal to me, and my grandma, who was from Korea, had never seen anything like it! I loved the different paintings, some telling tales of old.
I learned that to all art is stale and boring, but can tell you a story if you Just stop and listen. The two paintings that I have decided to compare and contrast are Saturn Devouring His Son by Francisco De Soya and The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters also by Francisco De Soya. I chose Saturn Devouring His Son by Francisco De Soya because it stood out to me. My childhood drawings were no different from any other adolescent boy, monsters destroying cities, giants eating cars, violence and fiction.
When I saw Saturn Devouring His Son, my childhood memories clicked and it seemed like an adult erosion of any child’s drawings. The painting shows Saturn with wild hair, bulging eyes, fists dripping in blood, and a frenzied look on his face. He is crouching in the darkness, violently eating a child. From a simple glimpse, this painting might seem pure carnage and evil, but as with all paintings, there is a message it conveys. In Greece-Roman mythology, the Sky and Earth bore Saturn and his siblings (the Titans). When the Sky pleaded for Saturn to kill his father, he agreed and afterwards married his sister Rhea.
Some time later it was prophesied that one of Saturn children could be his demise, so Saturn devoured every child that was born except one, because he was tricked. Some assume that Soya got his inspiration for this painting from Peter Paul Rube’s 1639 piece that depicted Saturn with a scythe and constellation, tearing into a child, but with no blood or gore. Francisco De Soya actually painted this work along with the 14 other Black paintings in a house called Quanta Del Sword. This series is known as is Soya took away any indicator and instead painted the vicious scene of cannibalism that would have taken place.
There are no indicators that this painting is mythological in any way. The reason Soya chose a female instead of a male corpse is most likely because Soya was struggling with his own old age and that he had bad luck with love and happiness. Saturn in Greece- Roman mythology represents lost time and Soya was not only painting a myth, but painting a message that time was attacking his chance at love and youth. The other artwork that I chose is The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters also by Francisco De Soya. I chose this piece because I liked the artwork and [epic]
