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Some Artists and Their Art for Paper #1



If you want to do the first Art Paper for Frankenstein, but aren't sure how to find just the right art, here are some contemporary suggestions that might work for you. Remember, you can do ANY work of art, so long as it's not literal (not an actual illustration of Frankenstein from some other source), and you can make the connection make sense. You want to use the work of art to explain, illustrate, or even complicate a passage in the text that seems to resemble it thematically. 

FOR EXAMPLE: In class last Tuesday, I showed the famous Goya etching "The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters," and connected that to Victor's horrific dream of Elizabeth turning into his mother. The connection I wanted to explore is that once Victor is asleep, his reason slumbers and the truth of his heart/soul seems to come out, becoming a nightmarish image of his fear of abandonment by his mother, and perhaps his resentment against Elizabeth for 'killing' her. Or it could be his fear that everyone he loves will die once he holds them too closely? Either way, it seems to be a grim way to interpret Goya's famous etching. 

Some painters and works you might consider exploring in Art Paper #1 include (but are not limited to):

Goya: some of the ones we examined in class, such as the Toothpuller etching, Saturn Devouring His Son, the Portrait of the Lady with a Fan, or other famous paintings such as The Third of May, which depicts a firing squad, or The Colossus, which depicts a giant who seems to be terrorizing the world. Google Goya's paintings or go to his Wikipedia site to find many great examples of his work. There's also a great, terrifying self-portrait of Goya that looks like a spitting-image of Victor Frankenstein! 

Caspar David Friedrich: we looked at his famous painting, Wanderer in a Sea of Fog in class, and he specialized in gloomy Romantic landscapes which seem to conjure up the haunted areas of the Alps where Frankenstein first converses with his Creature. 

Henry Fuseli: a strange painter of nightmarish scenes and who also depicted some of the darker works of Shakespeare, his most famous work is literally called The Nightmare, which depicts a woman either asleep, or fainted, or dead, as a strange little imp sits on her belly. In the background is the 'nightmare' itself, a demonic-looking horses, which watches the proceedings. He also did paintings of Macbeth and Paradise Lost, both of which inspired Frankenstein. Also, he's Swiss, and that's where the majority of the work takes place (in Switzerland). 

These are just a few painters who are roughly contemporary with Mary Shelley, but you can go further afield and even use modern painters, or photographs, or anything that inspires you. Let me know if you need any help! 

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