Sigmund Freud's Essay The Uncanny
The idea of the uncanny is developed by Sigmund Freud in his 1919 essay The Uncanny. It is explained as an occurrence where something that is known turns into something that is unfamiliar and unnerving, beyond what is within the grasp of familiarity. One of the components Freud touches on in his essay is the reanimation of the dead. By giving the dead characteristics of the living, the familiarity and comfort within our knowledge of the dead is erased and is replaced with uneasiness, or, the uncanny.
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio demonstrated the characteristics of the reanimated dead in his work “Medusa” in 1597. The gorgon, a monstrous female with live, venomous snakes in place of her hair, is painted at the precise time of her awareness …show more content…
However, the smear of dark red paint exhibiting her death conflicts with the illusion of liveliness that is present. The color scheme of earthy tones was common in the paintings of the 16th century. By including such shades in his painting of Medusa, Caravaggio dwells on the familiarity by being similar to artists of the same periods. In contrast, the subject matter causes the painting to be uncanny in that the subject of most paintings of the Baroque movement was religious. Therefore, Caravaggio’s decision to paint a Greek mythology gorgon, especially with characteristics of the reanimated dead, is so bizarre and atypical that it departs from our perception of familiarity and enters into the uncanny. This is both a terrible and terrified image because the eyes of Medusa are set forever on the horrible recognition of who she is. This realization is so distressing that it has eradicated the gorgon’s connection with reality, with the body, with any external context. The head, severed but still conscious, is an image of a great nightmare, that of the decapitated head aware of its disembodied condition. Moreover, Baroque artists were predominantly fixated on the naturalness of the components that make up their paintings, and even more of the connection amid the audience and the subject in order to spawn a powerful emotional experience.
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio demonstrated the characteristics of the reanimated dead in his work “Medusa” in 1597. The gorgon, a monstrous female with live, venomous snakes in place of her hair, is painted at the precise time of her awareness …show more content…
However, the smear of dark red paint exhibiting her death conflicts with the illusion of liveliness that is present. The color scheme of earthy tones was common in the paintings of the 16th century. By including such shades in his painting of Medusa, Caravaggio dwells on the familiarity by being similar to artists of the same periods. In contrast, the subject matter causes the painting to be uncanny in that the subject of most paintings of the Baroque movement was religious. Therefore, Caravaggio’s decision to paint a Greek mythology gorgon, especially with characteristics of the reanimated dead, is so bizarre and atypical that it departs from our perception of familiarity and enters into the uncanny. This is both a terrible and terrified image because the eyes of Medusa are set forever on the horrible recognition of who she is. This realization is so distressing that it has eradicated the gorgon’s connection with reality, with the body, with any external context. The head, severed but still conscious, is an image of a great nightmare, that of the decapitated head aware of its disembodied condition. Moreover, Baroque artists were predominantly fixated on the naturalness of the components that make up their paintings, and even more of the connection amid the audience and the subject in order to spawn a powerful emotional experience.