Final

Mariely sostre                                                                                      

Professor Joan Harmon

                When I went to the museum of modern art there were two paintings that grabbed my attention. I was looking around at the pieces to see if I could find anything catches my eye. Well I saw two paintings that I found very interesting and made me think about a lot of things. One of the paintings that I found interesting is called “Collective Suicide” by David Alfaro Siqueiros and the other painting is “Flower Festival: Feast of Santa Anita” by Diego Rivera. These two paintings made me question about what they mean and etc.

            The painting “Collective Suicide” by David Alfaro Siqueiros is124.5 x 182.9cm and because it is pretty big it made me feel a couple of things one after the other. The reason why this painting made me feel a couple of things because the painting is so dark which feels like doom and death. You are not able to stop even if you tried like it starts making you feel like its inevitable. The painting has two groups of people which you could clearly see that are different from each other. Where the group is standing at you could see that there are some fallen soldiers from both sides and it looks like they are fighting for land. Which there is an empty space between them and that makes me feel gloom, despair and unhappiness because they are fighting for land. They are also losing people lives because one group wants to keep their home while the other group is just being greedy. I feel like there is so much going on and we can’t describe it just feel what’s happening, then you start to wonder what would you feel if somebody came and took your home, what you stand for basically everything that you have ever known. Then you could start picturing yourself in their place and starts making you feel like if you were there. Then it made me feel like if I was there watching everything get destroyed because the other group doesn’t know what it is to live in harmony.

            The other painting “Flower Festival: Feast of Santa Anita” by Diego Rivera which made me feel peaceful and relaxed because the colors look so warm and inviting. Like you see the three girls sitting there and makes you want to feel a part of it and join them. It also makes you wonder what the red and white flowers mean because in some cultures a white flower would mean peace and the red flowers would mean love but it could mean something completely different. It also makes you feel like you are part of something that not everybody knows about and you get to show them a piece of who you are and your culture. I think about why the young girls are sitting down while the older women are standing up and have flowers in their hands. To me it feels like the flowers are symbolizing maturity because the young girls are sitting and there is a person right in front of them giving them this big bouquet of white flowers. Which could mean many things but I think that it means that they are young girls who have reached one step closer to become a women. I also think that it could mean that they have become a maiden and have to take the role they are supposed to be in. This painting made me think of why would they choose flowers and what is the true meaning of the festival? Why they choose to have those colors and why are there no men at all in the painting? It could also be a symbol of fertility; this festival could be celebrating fertility. I also have noticed that the first girl has her hair down and has a bouquet of flowers in her hand and the other two have their hair in braids which makes me think that they are going in order and she was the first to be congratulated. I have found these two painting of how they look, made me think and how they made me feel. To find  out what they could mean changed my perspective a lot.