Visual Metamorphosis
Visual metamorphosis is the term we use to indicate shape-shifting in art. It allows an artist to transform a shape representing one item into a similar shape representing something else. This, in turn, allows one meaning to be hidden behind another. It is a visual technique equivalent to allegory and metaphor in literature and has, in consequence, been widely used. It was first proposed in the 1930’s in a slightly different form by the French art historian, Henri Foçillon. Although subsequent historians have recognized visual metamorphosis in a few works by major artists, Dürer being the best-known, it has been far more widely used than anyone, save artists, has ever recognized.{ref1}
Most Recent Articles
Many were scandalized by this painting in the 1990's yet still missed the "real" scandal!
Ofili’s The Holy Virgin Mary (1996)
All Articles (Alphabetical by Artist, then Title)
Is this merely a scene of everyday life or something more important?
Aertsen’s Cook in front of the Stove (1559)
Learn how one scene can turn into another through visual metamorphosis
Bacon’s Two Men Working in a Field (1971)
In a short addendum to Part 1, see how Balthus conveyed his alter ego
Balthus’ The Mountain (1937) Part 2
Learn how to deconstruct a portrait by Balthus using a few simple principles
Balthus’ The White Skirt (1937)
See how Giovanni Bellini used a visual pun to pass on his meaning
Bellini’s Madonna of the Pear (c.1485)
How Bonnard turned his creative process into a scene in modern Paris
Bonnard’s The Pushcart (c.1897)
This masterpiece, like many before and since, must have been the source of inspiration for Picasso's Cubism. As unlikely as that may sound, it all depends on what you can see in The Birth of Venus that experts never have. You'll be one of the first...
Botticelli’s Birth of Venus (1484-6): Part Two
Learn how to look at Cézanne differently, using another form of visual perception
Cézanne’s Bathers (1899-1904)
Find out how even Cézanne incorporated a mystical Christian view of life into his art
Cézanne’s Five Bathers (1885-7)
See how Cézanne created his masterpiece around the vast but hidden head of a girl
Cézanne’s Large Bathers (c.1906)
One of my first discoveries remains, for me, an object lesson in art. Perhaps for you too.
Carpaccio’s St. George and the Dragon (1502)
A sketch-like landscape print by the nineteenth-century French artist, Camille Corot, includes the ghost-like echo of his own self-portrait in the trees at right.
Corot’s La Ronde Gauloise
Yet one more artist who sees himself as an animal, even as a creating animal
Cranach’s Animals in Adam and Eve’s (1509-1533)
See how Cranach represents himself as an evil man executing "his painting" of spiritual perfection.
Cranach’s Martryrdom of St. Barbara
Discover how two of Dürer's images are based on his own profile
Dürer’s Death of Orpheus (1494) and Descent into Limbo (1510)
This is an example of a hidden face in rock being seen by others
Dürer’s Mountain Hut in Ruins (1494-5)
Find out how inconsistencies in an artist's technique can be the sign of significant meaning
Dürer’s St. Jerome in the Wilderness (1496)
See how Durer shaped the Virgin and Child into the form of his own monogram
Dürer’s Virgin and Child (c.1491)
See how one form can metamorphose into another while bringing with it the form's original meaning
De Chirico’s Sun on the Easel (1973) Part 2
There is more to Degas' art than the mere copying of nature
Degas’ Rocks and Trees at Bagnoles-de-l’Ornec (1867)
Gauguin veiled his face so well in this woodcut that it has never been seen
Gauguin’s Nave Nave Fenua (1893-4)
With Mercury outfitted as a painter, the viewer can interpret this image confident that the subject is art
Goltzius’ Mercury (1611-13)
Sent on a mission to paint a potential queen for the blood-thirsty and dangerous Henry VIII, how did Holbein "paint" himself in painting the future Queen?
Holbein’s Anne of Cleves (c.1539)
How even contemporary art is heavily invested in the methods and meaning of the Old Masters
Kapoor’s Memory (2008)
Leonardo dated this landscape drawing as though it was a realistic rendering on a particular day in 1473 though scholars are divided. Some argue that, yes, the castle on the left existed while others believe that the scene is imaginative and point out specific spatial inconsistencies to support their view.
Leonardo’s Landscape (1473)
Ordinary subjects produce extraordinary content
Lichtenstein’s Untitled or Man with Chest Expander (c.1961)
If an artist's first and last initials are the same, or his initial matches that of his hometown, like Lucas van Leyden's, it is more than likely to appear in his work as well.
Lucas van Leyden’s Standard-Bearer (c.1510)
There is more to the Tragic Actor than meets the eye. Find out what's there that others cannot see.
Manet’s Tragic Actor (1865-6) Part 2
See how Notre-Dame, France's cathedral and symbol of the nation, becomes Matisse's
Matisse’s View of Notre-Dame (1914)
Find out what the studio and Golgotha have in common
Mengs’ Christ on the Cross (1761-9), Goya’s and Francis Bacon’s too
There is yet more meaning in the drawing as we see in Part 2 of this analysis
Michelangelo’s Archers Shooting at a Herm (c.1530) Part 2
Is landscape portraiture? Monet clearly thinks so.
Monet’s Camille Monet in the Garden at Argenteuil (1876)
Underneath the architecture of Monet's cathedrals is a major surprise
Monet’s Rouen Cathedral (1892-4)
Many were scandalized by this painting in the 1990's yet still missed the "real" scandal!
Ofili’s The Holy Virgin Mary (1996)
© Simon Abrahams. Articles on this site are the copyright of Simon Abrahams. To use copyrighted material in print or other media for purposes beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Websites may link to this page without permission (please do) but may not reproduce the material on their own site without crediting Simon Abrahams and EPPH.