Bosch temptation. Igor Levitas. Temptations of Saint Anthony in painting. Increased interest in the image

Talking about Bosch and his paintings is very easy and interesting, but sometimes you want to say something else.The world of Doltherian Catholicism is almost unknown to us, and, oddly enough, it is not known in the West either. To say anything about Bosch, some preliminary work is needed, and a slight, but still significant shift in mentality ...

Bosch's time is the era of the fall of the authority of the papacy, the collapse of the thousand-year-old Byzantium, the deep crisis of the German Empire, the plague, an era that was accompanied by social upheavals, the spread of mysticism and heresies, and, finally, a new and strongest outbreak of expectations of the End of the World, timed to 1550. Columbus returned when Bosch was about 40 years old. Around the same time, the Gutenberg press began its work - and people no longer swallow books, but wear them on their heads.

It was the Middle Ages, Bosch lived in the region, which was at that time the most urbanized and industrialized in all of Europe. Cities located on the territory of modern Holland and Belgium, held in their hands a significant part of European trade.

A truly medieval consciousness is difficult to understand, and in the case of Bosch, it is still impossible to the end, but this world seemed so interesting to me that I decided to make a pilgrimage ... to St. Anthony. This famous triptych based on the well-known plot of the temptation of St. Anthony by demons and demons in the Egyptian desert is widely distributed in Western European medieval art and literature.

For now, the triptych is closed. What is depicted on the outside of the wings is a kind of prologue - the Passion of Christ.

On the left wing - the taking of Christ into custody, in the foreground St. Peter cuts off the ear of Malchus, on the left we see the departing Judas with pieces of silver behind his shoulders. All sorts of symbolic objects are lying around, in the sky there is an almost black moon, and on the rock there is a bowl ... probably the Grail, and behind the rock - some dark people.

On the right wing we see Christ, who fell under the weight of the cross and stopped the procession moving to Golgotha. Veronica rushes to the Savior to wipe the sweat from his face. A little lower, the robbers are confessing to monks in hooded cassocks, it is interesting that one of the robbers with a bandaged ankle ... this is an unsolved detail in Bosch, he has many such "bandaged ankles", and probably not by chance. Maybe, Bosch alludes to the secret rites of initiation adopted by the alchemists, during which the new adept had to remove the shoe from the foot and expose the knee.

Still here, a fat burgher with two children, boys, attracts attention. This is how the artist depicts Cyrenean Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus - in the New Testament he helped to carry the Cross of Christ. But, apparently, such times have already come, which does not help. And around - here and there - unobtrusively so - all sorts of symbols are scattered, meaningful and sometimes scary.

Now let's open the triptych. The abundance of characters and details makes one dizzy, but this is an artistic device. This is how Bosch presents us the world - dizzying, full of action, temptations and events. And as in the icon - everything happens at the same time.

The central part of the triptych barely focuses on St. Anthony. And there are so many symbols that you need to make an extensive digression and finally realize the mental difference.

1. The first mental difference lies in the language. Linguistic revolution, i.e. the development of national languages ​​to a level where not only great poetry could speak them, but also science, which no longer felt like a giraffe in a ditch (as al-Biruni put it), came true. Latin retreated. Alchemy, due to its intermediate position between craft and free art, began to use national languages ​​earlier than other scientific disciplines. National consciousness manifested itself in all European countries. The Northern Renaissance peered into the current, semi-pagan culture of its people. Thus, the German physician Georg Bauer (Agricola), much better known for his writings in the field of mineralogy and metallurgy, in his book on underground animals De Animantibus Subterraneis Liber seriously describes salamanders living in fire, good and evil mine spirits, kobolds that imitate people, but they can kill with their breath (probably, they meant asphyxiating gases released in the mines). From this work of the great scientist one can imagine the true religion and mythology of the European miners of the 16th century.

At the time when the Italian humanists wrote treatises on the dignity and nobility of man, the Dutch humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam published a treatise "Praise of Stupidity", where he expressed a more sober view of the world inherent in the man of Northern Europe. In its content, the art of Bosch largely coincides with the provisions of the work of Erasmus. Note that the main works of the artist, condemning stupidity, appeared long before the treatise published in 1511.

And at the beginning of the XVI century. the physician and alchemist Philip Aureol Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim, better known under the pseudonym Paracelsus, with his characteristic true Renaissance self-esteem of a European and truly revolutionary courage, frankly introduced elements of the pagan magic of medieval Europe into his alchemy, equating the mythology of his homeland in rights with the alien Arab mythology , with the mythology of Egypt, Greece and Rome, and the Christian faith.

2. Attitude towards alchemy. Against the backdrop of the brilliance of court culture, the fires of the Inquisition and the Templar gothic skyward, the invasion of Islamic civilization into the European worldview, begun by the Crusades, continued. She already had her strongholds of science and art in Spain. Progressive minds looked with admiration at everything that came to them from the Arab desire for wisdom, because Christianity did not have such medicine, chemistry, mathematics and astronomy as in the East.

But at that time there were two alchemies - one high, hermetic science, the other - low, utilitarian. The same opposition was made by Dante Alighieri in the Divine Comedy: he threw into hell those crooks who forged metals with alchemy, but placed in heaven Albert of Bolstedt, nicknamed the Great for his outstanding merits and canonized by the Catholic Church, the most remarkable of the European alchemists of that era. Thanks to the works of Albert the Great and his student Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle's natural philosophy was recognized by the Catholic Church, thereby legalizing the theoretical basis of alchemy.

For the adepts of alchemy, matter was spiritualized in all its manifestations, so it was possible to cast a spell on both an animal and a plant; both God and stone could be born, live, suffer, die and rise again; both man and metal could be treated for diseases and imperfections. I am talking about the oriental and not the national character of alchemy, because despite the huge differences between the great civilizations, for example, India, China and Egypt, such a whole worldview was acceptable to them. And alchemy could remain harmonious, including ideas that were born in such different parts of the world.

3. Alchemy was discredited by the growing role of gold as a commodity equivalent. Its production in Europe was small, and it was increasingly flowing to the East in payment for spices, silk, porcelain, etc. Soon there were so many counterfeiters of gold who called themselves alchemists that the reputation of alchemy was compromised throughout Europe. And even the educated freethinker Joseph Chaucer, although he made an English translation of the Romance of the Rose, in his own Canterbury Tales wittily ridiculed the alchemists themselves with their deliberately incomprehensible, mysterious theoretical constructions, and the charlatans with their fraudulent manipulations, and the greedy ignoramuses who fall into their networks. Among the latter there were also prominent persons: in 1329 the English king Edward III demanded to find two fugitive alchemists and learn the secrets of their skill, and in 1330 Pope John XXII gave his doctor money to create a laboratory for some secret work. John was probably influenced by the alchemical letters addressed to him in 1320 by the first alchemist in England, the monk John Dustin, the author of many Latin alchemical treatises. Dustin was a sincere enthusiast, and philosophical research (i.e., the search for the philosopher's stone) brought him to complete poverty.

4. Adaptation of alchemy to Christianity. Attempts to adapt the religious layer of alchemy to Christianity, reinterpreting alchemical symbolism in a new way, trying to introduce elements of Christianity into the mythology of alchemy, belong to an era when alchemy was already widely popular in Europe, but its reputation was not yet tarnished by an avalanche of illiterate charlatans.

It should also not be forgotten that, for example, Zosimas or Synesius were Christians, and the latter even held a high position in the church of that time, which did not interfere with their work in the field of alchemy. Yes, and throughout history, alchemy and Christianity went hand in hand, and although there was a papal bull, the persecution of alchemists was minimal compared to various heretics or sorcerers and witches. Similarly, astrologers felt quite "at ease" and even studied this hermetic science in many universities. I think that this strange "tolerance" can serve as a small confirmation that Hermeticism does not contradict Catholic teaching.

Efforts in this direction were also made later: in 1415, the book Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit appeared in Germany, the author of which (anonymous) decided to draw a parallel between Jesus Christ and the Philosopher's Stone. In 1450, Cosimo de' Medici established Plato's Florentine Academy and commissioned Marsilio Ficino to translate the Corpus Hermeticus, including the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, into Latin. This was already the era (the earliest) of European printing, so the translation, completed in 1471, was widely known and made a strong impression on Europe. The image of Hermes, or Mercury, the triune deity of the ancient world, resembled the Christian triune God. This fully corresponded to the then fashionable opinion that true religion, i.e. Christianity was known in antiquity. Hermes, the legendary founder of alchemy, has become a theological symbol. In 1488 the figure of Hermes Trismegistus was included in the mosaic of the Siena Cathedral. Hermetic symbolism of the most diverse content was used in the decoration of a number of French churches. Many theologians rushed to develop the philosophy of alchemy. Most of them had no idea about laboratory practice, but there were also knowledgeable experimenters, for example, the abbot of the monastery of St. Jacob Johann Trithemius of Spanheim, teacher of Paracelsus. Paracelsus himself was close to this mystical current when he said: “The philosopher’s stone is the Christ of nature, and Christ is the philosopher’s stone of the spirit. Since Mercury is an intermediate link between the Sun and the Moon, it is ... Christ in the world of matter, just like Christ mediator between God and the world, the spiritual Mercury of the universe."

But what about the medieval alchemists? We do not know of a single ecclesiastical or papal anathema, not a single decree concerning them specifically; moreover, these "sons of Hermes" were very numerous among both the clergy who lived and acted in the world, and monasticism. Attempts to make artificial gold were not something forbidden even to theologians, for St. Thomas Aquinas himself was of the opinion that gold artificially obtained by alchemists should be considered acceptable.

So, alchemy fought for survival, and Hieronymus Bosch turned out to be a witness to this period of alchemy's struggle for survival.

Therefore, in the center of the triptych, we see the athanor (alchemists' melting furnace), which Bosch depicted as an egg-shaped structure topped with a chimney from which smoke pours. A branch emerging from the chest holds bellows designed to fan the flames. Inside the oven is Christ. There is also a hollow oak. It is known that for medieval alchemists it served as a symbol of the athanor. Or rather, Bosch depicted the tree in the form of a hybrid: it is both an oak tree and an ugly old woman, extracting a swaddled baby from her bark-covered belly. Moreover, the iconography of the Flight into Egypt is quite obvious, and the symbolism is quite obvious: the baby emerging from the athanor is the philosopher's stone, which must come out of the philosopher's egg. And another homunculus is visible on a dish with an egg in his hands - around which there are black, white and red figures - they personify the three phases of the transformation of the same name in the course of the alchemical process ...

The question immediately arises: in this demonic coven - where is the truth?

They always talk about Bosch with a breath and certainly add something like - in the creation of monsters, he used "all the unrestraint and indefatigability of his imagination." It seems so now, but in fact, in those days, everyone painted these monsters, and Bosch, undoubtedly adding something from himself, redrawed a lot. Here, for example, is an engraving by his elder contemporary Martin Schongauer, all about the same martyrdom of St. Anthony. It was also redrawn by Michelangelo).

It is this engraving that is interesting because the monstersvery similar, "just one face" with Bosch's. And Pieter Brueghel the Elder, born just some 40 kilometers from 's-Hertogenbosch a few years after Bosch's death, was the most successful of imitators, and he drawing monsters.

So the monsters were all right for the time being, and then they were all carefully and methodically brought out by the Reformation. "The sleep of reason gives birth to monsters," Francisco Goya summed up already at the end of the 18th century, asserting the complete victory of rationalism.

And we are considering the triptych of Hieronymus Bosch, who lived at a time when monsters could still scare someone, and we will try to find the truth - what did the author want to say after all.

Here we have the central part of the triptych.

In the background, some large village is transmuting on fire, and in the center, as I already said, is an alchemical furnace - athanor.

Here's another, as far as LJ allows), larger.

Saint Anthony is depicted with a gesture of blessing, and kneeling. He is the only one looking directly at the viewer.

St. Anthony is praying, while fantastic characters are trying to play around him the plots of such ... er ... Gospel of alchemy - right next to him there is a monstrous communion, women serve. A winged warrior with a thistle instead of a head is the original sin. In a woman with a long dress, standing next to Anthony, her diabolical nature is recognized.

Here we also see a pig-headed priest, his feet in a puddle formed from the urine of a mare, the back of which has the shape of a jug - this is also such a type of transmutation - "wet"; the priest reads the Gospel on an impromptu altar, which is nothing more than just dirty earth, and in front of him is a magician in a red robe, with a cut off leg, with a hat on his head, indicating his profession, leaning against a wooden wall, copying the pose of Christ opposing him behind St. Anthony. All these details, except for those, of course, in which Bosch's attitude to what is happening are read, as we remember, have an alchemical origin. Moreover, the ridiculous priest, the holes in whose vestments allow one to see the bloody bare sides and the hollow inside of the body, is assisted by two demons, one of which, with a long beak of a heron, holds a nest with an egg on his head; another egg is placed on the wall behind the magician.

The abundance of lip pipes personifies such a sin as debauchery. In the altar, in the depths of an almost destroyed chapel, is Jesus Christ, who stands next to his Crucifixion ... despite all this alchemical rubbish, which remains a symbol of salvation and deliverance from sins. Thus, Bosch draws attention to the fact that a person will find salvation and purification, like Anthony, in unshakable faith in God. Despite the power of the dark forces, Anthony nevertheless chose the right path, which led him to victory over temptations, as evidenced by his calm and enlightened face turned towards the viewer.

The most impressive are the episodes where we see a person imitating the pose of the crucified, either leaning against the wall, or thrust inside a monster or berry, symbolically depicting an athanor or a philosopher's stone. Then the sphere disintegrates and from there triumphantly emerges a monstrous, skinny and green, he is suspended in a willow basket and, yelling, shakes his saber, surrounded by various symbols of sin.

I already spoke about the wooden woman, but look again - here the homunculi are just in the frame.

You can savor the details for a long time, but we won’t, the main thing is that the method is defined, the rest can be interpreted in general terms independently. Let's move on to the side doors, here's the left one. It depicts the raising of the saint by demons into the sky (above) and the fall of Anthony, more precisely, the result of this fall.

In the lower corner of the left part of the triptych, for example, a monster on skates approaches three demons hiding under the bridge, along which pious people lead the unconscious Anthony. On the monster is a sign that is considered the emblem of the messenger; it carries a letter, which, apparently, contains a protest against the mockery of St. Anthony. But the letter is written in a mirror image - a sure sign that the monster and demons are mocking the saint. On the head of the monster is a funnel - a symbol of intemperance and deceit: it flaunts a dry branch and a ball on display, which means wild fun; hanging ears prove his stupidity. All this could be understood by the artist's contemporaries, but five centuries later, the average viewer can only hope to catch the general idea of ​​Bosch's creation...

In the background are scenes of a witches' sabbath in the air. This motif was associated with the witch hunt that began at the end of the 15th century. And now, after a grueling struggle with the devil, Anthony is led by two monks and a man.

Here is Antony's flight on demons in more detail...The appearance of the monsters contradicts their habitat: fish and rodents carry Anthony in the sky. And towhat a manly serenity on Antony's face.

Here is a close-up of the lower part of the sash.Crossing the bridge is symbolic - perhaps this is the bridge of salvation, through which only the elect, who have overcome the whole path of temptations, have to pass. In any case, there is no way back, the path in front of the bridge has collapsed. Beneath him sits a group of devils reciting false "psalms". To the left of the bridge is a bird standing on an egg from which chicks have hatched, eating a frog by itself, instead of feeding its own children. Such behavior can be interpreted as gluttony and cruelty. On the right is a bird in skates, in the beak of which is written "laziness", that is, restlessness in prayers to God...

In the center of the sash you can see the sinking ships, again with a hint of hermetic navigation, and a man-hill, which is clearly associated with the rite of initiation preserved by the Masons - the test by the earth. Under his backside is either a brothel, or a tavern, where the next "holy" procession is heading.

On the right wing, the cluster of naked women is nothing but voluptuousness.

Demons and sinners torment Anthony, trying to distract him from righteous thoughts; they beat him, take him to a brothel, act out scenes of a terrible fall into sin, parade gluttons, adulterers, squanderers and blasphemers before him; a naked she-devil tries to seduce him.

The saint is depicted in the triptych four times, but not once does his gaze fall on the sinful spectacles taking place around him. He avoids all temptations, refusing to notice them.

The view of the artist himself, his approach to solving spatial problems is amazing. On large boards, he creates an indefinite space in which many moving figures are arranged in horizontal or wavy chains that form a single foreground. And the perspective - that is, it is not, but even where it is, the artist looks at the depicted world from above, as an observer. Like from a flying saucer)Having glanced at the images of this triptych from it, let's return to our question. What did Bosch mean?

Here we need one more digression.

5. It turned out that Bosch, in the images of his works, is close to the mystic and theologian Jan van Ruysbroek (Ruisbroek), nicknamed the Amazing, whose student Geert Groth founded the Brotherhood of Common Life in Hertogenbosch, representing the reform movement of the New Piety, very severe in relation to any kind of there were manifestations of heresy. This brotherhood tried to revive the Christian life of apostolic times.

Devotivo moderna [lat. - new piety], a mystical-religious movement that originated in the end. 14th century in the Netherlands and spread to Northern Europe. Ruysbrook was characterized by the use of complex symbols-images. Many of them are often found in the paintings of Bosch. For example, a forked tree as a symbol of the righteous and unrighteous ways, a tree-man as an allegory of the sinfulness of the world, and many others. In it, researchers are looking for traces of Bosch's passion for astrology and alchemy, the search for its mystical rapprochements with Christianity - Ruysbrook also adhered to this long tradition.

According to Ruysbroek, merging with God is not acquired "arbitrarily", but by grace. as a result of spiritual practice, the mystic merges "into the Divine unity" when his soul is "covered by the Holy Trinity."

In The Garment of Spiritual Marriage, Ruysbroek wrote: "If we see everything in God and relate everything to him, then we also read the highest expression of meaning in ordinary objects." The world appears to him as a single great symbolic system with the richest rhythmic and polyphonic content.

“I want to look for joys outside of time ... even if the world is horrified by my delights and, in its rudeness, does not know what I want to say."

Ruysbrook's mysticism was expressed, on the one hand, in the condemnation of church rituals and hypocrisy, on the other hand, in the internal structure of the monastery, like the brotherhood of apostolic times. According to Ruysbruck, the divine essence, being in eternal transcendent peace, is at the same time the preserving force and purpose of all created things. The created world flows from God in the process of creation, having in Him the eternal archetypes of its forms, including the eternal archetype of man, realizing which the created soul returns to the Creator through contemplation. Ruysbruck defines the unity (and difference as a creature from the Creator) of the human soul and God as the relationship between the lover and the beloved. Due to its sensuous side, the soul lives in the body and in the external world; thanks to the rational - in oneself, renouncing the external world; thanks to the spiritual - above himself, in God. The last side of the soul is a mirror containing the image of God, God the Son, Who, being present in every person completely and deeply personally, unites all people with Himself.

In accordance with the three aspects of the soul, the mystical life, according to Reisbook, has the following directions: active - the practice of good deeds, necessary, but not sufficient for the purification of the soul; internal - renunciation from the external world, concentration in oneself and submission to God of one's entire inner life; contemplative - going beyond oneself, killing the personal principle and uniting with God in eternal love, when the spirit unites with His essential basis, but does not lose its created nature. At the same time, “God-seers” who have achieved this goal are not freed from doing good deeds: on the contrary, the need for practical love is the result of their inner goodness.

Well, so the vision of God and the practice of communion with God is described by Ruysbrook with such power and beauty that it all seems very vivid, and the adherents of this teaching were very often "God-seers".

"Contemplating and surrendering entirely, enjoy the unity of objects and being..."- Wrote Reisbook)))

So, I think, returning to our alchemical sheep, and Bosch did, he enjoyed the unity of the world, albeit very contradictory. To put it bluntly, he was philosophical, flighty. And his paintings miraculously, as Ruysbrook said - survived 5 centuries ... became "joys out of time ... even if the world was horrified."

Of course, Bosch was related to alchemy, apparently, to its higher, spiritual part, for which, roughly speaking, the hesychast convergence of the mind in the heart is put in analogy with the receipt of Mercury. And in the language of spiritual, sacred Hermeticism, he condemned all material and the most widespread alchemy, which was directly involved in the manufacture of gold and silver ... such alchemists, the artist believes, encroach on the Gospel, they try to use it for their own purposes and turn it into a bad parody.

Bosch says thatThere is another way to transform souls - this is real religiosity. There is an athanor of truth, where souls enter sinful and leave purified: this is repentance.

The Temptation of St. Anthony is a work that calls to abandon the chemical furnace in ruins, to replace it with Christ, the only source of the correct faith; precisely by standing on the side of Christ and repeating the gesture of the Savior, St. Anthony, appears in the apotheosis of the central panel as a quiet winner of this temptation. Genuine, real philosopher's stone.

And it is not Bosch's fault that such a dangerous metaphor was not rejected by Catholicism at that time, and Bosch was a very sincere, passionate and religious person.

materials -
http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/vs/article/6980/
http://www.newacropolis.ru/magazines/7_2005/bosh/
http://www.rodon.org/ri/odb.htm
http://magazines.russ.ru/neva/2013/4/a19.html
Alchemy and its symbolism in the work of Hieronymus Bosch./ OVBlinova // Science Studies.: Nauch. magazine - 03/22/2000. – 1/2000. - S. 82 - 127.

Art of the Netherlands in the 15th and 16th centuries
The altar “The Temptation of St. Anthony” is one of the best works of the mature Bosch, it is no coincidence that there are many repetitions of it from the 16th century: six copies of the entire altar, five of its central part, and one of the side wings have been recorded. Touch-up drawings on the original eloquently testify to the special intensity of the creative process - the artist, as they say, "put his soul into his work." This triptych by Hieronymus Bosch, one of his most important works, is full of malicious mockery of the clergy. Never before Bosch in all of European painting has there been such a bold and realistically accurate rendering of lighting effects. In the background of the altar, the flame of the fire snatches the edge of the forest out of the darkness, reflects with red and yellow highlights on the surface of the river, casts crimson reflections on the dense wall of the forest. Bosch not only masterfully conveys the effects of aerial perspective, but also creates a feeling of air colored with light.

Little is known about the history of writing and the original fate of this unusual triptych. In 1523, the triptych was acquired by the Portuguese humanist Damiao de Gois. The triptych summarizes the main motifs of Bosch's work. The image of the human race, mired in sins and stupidity, and the endless variety of hellish torments awaiting it, is joined here by the Passion of Christ and scenes of the temptation of the saint, who, by the unshakable firmness of faith, allows him to resist the onslaught of enemies - the World, the Flesh, the Devil.

In that era, when the existence of Hell and Satan was an immutable reality, when the coming of the Antichrist seemed completely inevitable, the intrepid steadfastness of the saint, looking at us from his chapel filled with the forces of evil, should have encouraged people and instilled hope in them. The central part of the "Temptation of St. Anthony". The space of the picture is literally teeming with fantastic implausible characters. The white bird is turned into a real winged ship plowing the sky. Bosch's fantasy was apparently fed by images on gems and coins of the era of Alexander the Great.

The central scene - the celebration of the black mass - is one of the most eloquent evidence of the contradictory, restless spirit of the master. Here, exquisitely dressed female priests celebrate a blasphemous service, they are surrounded by a motley crowd: after the cripple, a mandolin player in a black cloak with a boar's snout and an owl on his head (the owl here is a symbol of heresy) hurries to the impious communion. From a huge red fruit (an indication of the phase of the alchemical process), a group of monsters appears, led by a demon playing a harp - a clear parody of an angelic concert. The bearded man in the top hat, depicted in the background, is believed to be a warlock who leads a crowd of demons and directs their actions. And the demon-musician saddled a strange suspicious creature, resembling a huge plucked bird, shod in wooden shoes. The lower part of the composition is occupied by strange ships. To the sound of the demon singing, a headless duck swims, another demon looks out of the window in place of the duck's neck.

Whoever they call Salvador Dali: a genius, a businessman, a self-promotion guru. This is really all he is. The provocative images rendered on the canvas are always the confession of Dali himself, who can seriously speak to you in the language of painting, or he can act out by changing masks.

Plot

Without a dictionary of Dali symbols, the canvas, of course, looks like a set - albeit compositionally built - of magical figures. About each - in order.

In the lower left corner is Saint Anthony, defending himself with a cross (a symbol of his inextinguishable faith) from the temptations of the devil. The temptations themselves are a round dance that is in the focus of our attention.

The rearing horse is a symbol of sensual pleasure and unsurpassed power. Elephants - dominance and power. The first of them has a cup of desire with a naked woman on his back, the second has an obelisk, reminiscent of the work of the Roman sculptor Bernini, and the last have an architectural composition in the style of Palladio.

Huge figures rest on spider legs and seem to be about to fall on the saint. This image of long, thin legs with many joints is somewhat reminiscent of grasshoppers, which Dali was terribly afraid of since childhood.

On the horizon in the clouds one can see the Spanish El Escorial, which for the artist was a symbol of law and order, achieved through the fusion of spiritual and secular.

Huge elephants on matchstick legs are an image that often appears in Dali's works. A person builds many plans in his life, vanity knows no boundaries, life passes under the weight of desires. Mountains of jewels, golden temples that are carried by elephants on thin legs that are about to break off are a symbol of the fact that our capabilities are limited. A “toy” temple with a fragment of a naked female body in the opening is interpreted as spirituality distorted by demons.

It is believed that this painting gave rise to a new direction in the work of Salvador: he began to combine spiritualism, classical painting and images of the atomic era in his works.

Context

Saint Anthony is a hermit from the 4th century. He proved his commitment to the faith by his fearlessness in the face of the terrifying visions that visited him regularly. The hallucinations usually came in two forms: in the form of a seductive woman and in the form of formidable demons. In the early Renaissance, artists combined these images and painted women with horns, recalling their satanic origin.

Usually Anthony was portrayed as a bearded old man. (wikipedia.org)

The story of Anthony was well replicated in the Middle Ages. But as simple mortal joys were sung more and more, they began to forget about the saint.

Why did Dali remember him? Everything is very simple - from the desire to win. Albert Levin, an American film producer, announced a competition for the image of a tempted saint. It wasn't done for fun. Levin was just thinking about shooting a film based on Guy de Maupassant's short story "Dear Friend". 11 artists, including Dali, offered their options. Surrealist Max Ernst won. And the creation of Salvador entered eternity.

Don't be lost in the weird world of investment. (wikipedia.org)

Years later, the Brazilian advertising agency Leo Burnett Sao Paulo, inspired by Dali, adapted the story to the present. At the head of the "procession" is the dollar symbol George Washington, stylized as the goddess of justice Themis. He is followed by the decrepit Uncle Sam - the American economy, on the body of which the mosquito Osama bin Laden sits, sucking out the last "juices". Next come China and the Arab countries. And the slogan of this allegory cartoon is: Don’t be lost in the weird world of investment (“Do not get lost in the world of strange, incomprehensible investments”).

The fate of the artist

Since childhood, Salvador felt special. And he tried in every possible way to demonstrate this to others: he started fights, made scandals, threw tantrums - everything just to stand out and attract attention to himself.

Over time, when the question of a career arose, Dali was so obsessed with commercial success that Andre Breton coined an anagram nickname for him: “Avida Dollars” (which is not quite accurate in Latin, but recognizably means “greedy for dollars”). It sounded biting, but it did not affect Salvador's fees - people continued to spend fortunes on Dali's works.

The saddest thing in the history of the artist is that he died alone and sick. Neither money nor fame saved him from piling up passions, the spidery legs of which buckled after all.

After the death of his wife in the early 1980s, Dali fell into a deep depression. Parkinson's disease made it difficult to work. It was difficult to take care of a sick and distraught old man, he threw himself at the nurses with what was tucked under his arm, shouted, bit.

Dali died on January 23, 1989 from a heart attack. The artist bequeathed to bury him so that people could walk on the grave, so the body was walled up in the floor in one of the rooms of the Dali Theater Museum in Figueres.