Other Work

4. I chose to work with Max Beckman’s Brother and Sister. I found this painting looking for European Modernist painters, finding Beckman, and then looking at his work. After a few failed attempts at making sense of other paintings, I found that this one fit the edict of European Modernism.

The painting is very chaotic and rife with tension and contradictions. At first, the incest suggested by the title repulses the viewer, but further examination reveals that it is more than a portrait of incest. The painting draws the viewer’s immediate tension to the sword in the center, which seems to be the driving force of the message the painting is trying to convey. The sword is explicitly separating the brother and sister, but is not physically harming either. The sword is also black, gigantic, and alone (in the sense that it is not wielded by any person or thing. Since it is acting to separate the incestuous couple, the sword initially seems to be representative of society’s taboo against incest. However, the awkward angle of the brother’s leg seems purposeful; one could reasonably see the sword as a phallic device. If viewed this way, then the very means with which to accomplish the taboo is the very force preventing it from occurring. Thus, the taboo is not some artificial societal construction, but rather a force of human nature. In this way, Beckman seems to suggest that this facet of society is functional, and should be kept intact. By his normative analysis of incest, Beckman is true to the modernist philosophy of close examination grounded in concretes. He closely examines the nature of incest and deems it to be a valid taboo. In his acquiesce to the general sentiment, Beckman is also implying that society is not completely wrong, another facet of the modernist doctrine.

Other elements of the painting further Beckman’s assertion. For example, the brother and sister are lavishly adorned, and lay on a richly colored bed/rug, suggesting that they are wealthy. I equate this wealth with a sort of elitist air that would normally fiercely protect society’s taboos and may even have further restrictions on primal urges. Yet, the brother and sister are still tense in their separation, wanting to be joined. Therefore, the painting suggests that human temptation seems to push subversion of even the strictest taboos. However, the societal force of the sword intertwined with the human force of the brother’s phallus prevents this subversion. Then, people must be noble at least in regard to their current stance on incest—the harsh taboo. As I mentioned previously, this illustrates the modernist method of grounding even the most abstract ideas in concrete things.