The Eye - Salvador Dalí (1945)

• Catching up

• More on Adobe Illustrator

• How to work with Stroke Color, Complex Shapes, Groups on Illustrator

• How to create a Pattern

• Work with Gradients & Transparency

• Eyes in art

• Due: Homework #6

Oil on canvas, 40.6 x 31.8 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Vincent van Gogh once said, "I would sooner paint people's eyes than cathedrals, for there is something in the eyes that is lacking in a cathedral - however solemn and impressive it may be." 

Surrealist oil on canvas painting. It lives at the MOMA, Museum of Modern Art in New York. 

The Surrealists meant these kinds of images to make viewers uneasy, to unsettle complacent attitudes about art and life. By replacing the eye’s iris with a blue, cloud-filled sky in False Mirror, Magritte challenges us to question what we see and what we think we know. Is the sky a reflection of what the eye is seeing? Is the eye an opening into another reality? Are we looking at an inner vision, or something else entirely? One thing is certain: Magritte’s False Mirror is an invitation to look at the world differently.

Oil on canvas painting. Maria Helena Vieira da Silva was a Portuguese abstract painter. She was considered a leading member of the European abstract expressionism movement known as Art Informel.

The enigmatic and at the same time universal faces of Amedeo Modigliani also became famous, in which instead of eyes there were empty pools devoid of irises. The artist's quote "When I know your soul, I will paint your eyes" seems to summarize how ones eyes tell someone so much about themselves. Modigliani's lack of eyes in his works, shows how he did not always know his subjects well, such as in his portraits of Madame Kisling and Léopold Survage.

Untitled (Head) indicates that, from the outset, Basquiat was fascinated by greater realities than meet the eye. This work introduces the unique X-ray-like vision he brought to his subjects. His work appears to break down the dichotomy between the external and the internal, intuiting and revealing the innermost aspects of psychic life. 

The depiction of the Eye of Sauron in Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of “The Lord of the Rings” is a dramatic visual representation that differs from the book. 

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s original text, the Eye is described more metaphorically as a symbol of Sauron’s influence and presence, rather than as a literal flaming eye. The Eye was used as a symbol on the armor and banners of Mordor, representing Sauron’s quasi-omniscience. It’s mentioned that the Eye could be seen atop
Barad-dûr during the events of “The Lord of the Rings,” but it’s not described as a physical entity in the same way as depicted in the movies. 

In the films, the Eye is shown as a gigantic, fiery eyeball atop the Dark Tower. This creative choice by the filmmakers served to provide a clear and menacing visual for Sauron’s watchfulness and malice.