Questioning Reality

Hieronymus Bosch and Salvador Dali Reflect Plato

Historical Analysis of Metaphysics Influence on the Arts Microsoft® PowerPoint® Presentation

The Garden of Earthly Delights

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Figure 1. Bosch, H. (Artist). (1504).

The Garden of Earthly Delights

• Defining Characteristics• Artist: Hieronymus Bosch – circa 1490-

1516• Triptych: side panels represent the

beginning of time and the end of time• Presents a fantastical view of reality

that calls into question the nature of reality itself

The Persistence of Memory

Figure 2. Dali, S. (Artist). (1931).

The Persistence of Memory

• Defining Characteristics• Artist: Salvador Dali, 1931• Calls both reality and time into question• According to the Museum of Modern Art

(n.d.),“Dalí painted this work with ‘the most imperialist fury of precision,’ but only, he said, ‘to systematize confusion and thus to help discredit completely the world of reality.’”

Influence of Metaphysics

• Plato was one of the early philosophical voices that questioned reality.

• His cave allegory describes prisoners who have only seen shadows, which is reality to them . One prisoner breaks free and discovers the source of the shadowy images, realizing in the process that what he thought was real was actually an illusion. Plato asks us to examine whether we are existing in a cave of our own creation.

• Similarly, Bosch and Dali are questioning reality and asking us to do the same.

References• Bosch, H. (Artist). (1504).The Garden of

Earthly Delights [Painting]. Retrieved from http://www.computus.org/journal/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/the-garden-of-earthly-delights.jpg

• Dali, S. (Artist). (1931). The Persistence of Memory [Painting]. Retrieved from http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=79018

• Museum of Modern Art. (n.d). The Collection. Retrieved from http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=79018