Sirens and Mermaids, from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, paintings.ppsx

an animal woman, sensual, erotic, wild, indomitable, tempting, evil, dangerous,
but sometimes sympathetic and innocent ...

2. an animal woman, sensual, erotic, wild, indomitable, tempting, evil, dangerous,
but sometimes sympathetic and innocent ...

3. from the siren with a fish by Hugo of Fouilloy to the bird-woman flying over Ulysses' ship by Waterhouse
through
the merciless and deadly mermaid by Leighton and the beautiful mermaid with a bouquet of flowers by Chagall

4. Sirens and Mermaids
from the Middle Ages to the 20th century
paintings

5. Sirens and Mermaids and the Medieval European manuscripts …
A deadly creature, half woman, half bird or fish.
A few illustrations include bearded male sirens.

6. a siren
an onocentaur
a boat full of sailors
A group of sailors in a crowded boat have been put to sleep by a siren,
while an onocentaur points at them.
The siren is part woman and part bird.
The siren and onocentaur are often illustrated together because they are both symbols of lust.
Manuscript Physiologus
Siren
Sirène
Sirena
Early 14th century
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 3206 (De naturis rerum / Physiologus), folio 148r, Munich

8. Siren playing with an empty bottle
The text says that when sailors see a siren, they throw empty bottles to her.
While she is playing with the bottles, the sailors make their escape.
Thomas of Cantimpré
Siren
Sirène
Sirena
13th century
Bibliothèque Municipale de Valenciennes, MS 320 (Liber de natura rerum), folio 118v, Valenciennes

11. Siren playing pipe to sleeping men
The siren is part women, part bird or fish, or as in this case, both.

Most unusually the woman part is clothed.
The siren's music puts men to sleep, then she kills them.
Richard de Fournival
Siren
Sirène
Sirena
ca. 1285
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, fr. 412 (Bestiaire d'amour), folio 240r, Paris

14. Female and male sirens with a fish
Sirens are usually shown charming or attacking sailors in a ship.
This unusual image shows a female and male siren sharing a fish.
Sirens are sometimes shown holding a fish.
In Christian symbolism the fish could represent the human soul,
so the siren holding a fish may suggest that the siren does not just eat
sailor's bodies but also their souls.
Manuscript Bestiary of Hugh of Fouilloy
Siren
Sirène
Sirena
1240
Bestiary of Bibliothèque Municipale de Valenciennes, MS 101 (De avibus / Physiologus), folio 198r,
Valenciennes

17. A siren lulls a man to sleep with her song, and when he is asleep she kills him
The siren is guilty of killing the man, but the man is also guilty because he trusted her.
Allegory/Moral
The story of the sirens shows that those who take delight in worldly pleasures
will become the devil's prey.
Richard de Fournival
Male siren with man in a boat
Sirène mâle avec un homme dans un bateau
Sirena macho con hombre en un barco
13-14 century
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, fr. 12469 (Bestiaire d'amour / L'Image du monde), folio 6v, Paris

20. Three sirens with the torso of a woman,
the feet and wings of a bird and the tail of a fish
The siren at the left holds a comb, which is more often associated
with the mermaid as a symbol of vanity.
The one on the right holds a fish; this is common with siren illustrations,
and may represent the human soul.
Manuscript Bestiary
Siren
Sirène
Sirena
ca. 1185
Morgan Library, MS M.81 (The Worksop Bestiary), folio 17r, New York

23. Sirens and Odysseus (Ulysses)
“Come hither, as thou farest, renowned Odysseus, great glory of the Achaeans;
stay thy ship that thou mayest listen to the voice of us two ...”
Odyssey XII, 184

24. Bird-women flying over the ship with their siren songs
the crew trying to ignore them in order to get out of there alive
and
Ulysses listening, aware that, if he had not been tied up,
if it is not tied, he would succumb and serve as a banquet for these creatures.
John William Waterhouse
Ulysses and the Sirens
Ulysse et les Sirènes
Ulises y las sirenas
1891
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

27. an approaching vessel (it's Odysseus)
and
two sirens very human (down to the waist)
and
at their feet three human skulls and others bones to indicate their intentions
Arnold Böcklin
Sirens
Sirènes
Sirenas
1875
Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin

29. Odysseus sailing past …
three sirens half-woman, half-fish ... and zero bird
Gustave Moreau
Les Sirènes
The Mermaids
Las sirenas
1885
Musée National Gustave-Moreau, Paris

32. beautiful mermaids invade Ulysses' ship ...

As they climb aboard, an act of assertive sexuality, their tails disappear
and the mermaids change from into women.
The muscly sailors are apparently terrified by the three naked girls.
Herbert James Draper
Ulysses and the Sirens
Ulysse et les Sirènes
Ulises y las sirenas
1909
Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston upon Hull

35. The protagonist is not only Ulysses,
there we are all human beings tied to that fragile mast,
maddened with desire, trying to break the ropes that bind to reason and prudence,
to surrender to the temptations of life, which, sometimes, as in this case,
have the appearance of
song, fish and women.
Pablo Picasso
Ulysse et les sirens
Ulysses and Mermaids
Ulises y sirenas
1947
Musée Picasso, Antibes

37. a bewitching voice combined with absolute knowledge …
no one can resist the charm of these enchantresses … not even artists

38. a rocky outcrop
a saturnine setting sun
a lone sail on the horizon
beautiful figures
the sea serpents replace their feet and merge with the rocks
A skull hides among the rocks,
a memento mori reminding the viewer that these beautiful women are inherently treacherous.
Gustave Moreau
The Sirens
Les Sirènes
Las sirenas
1882
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Cambridge

41. a merciless and deadly embrace ...
A fisherman in a deep embrace with a mermaid.
Frédéric Leighton tells the story of a mermaid who lures the fisherman to his death,
in retaliation for the death of his fish (his son).
Frederic Leighton
The Fisherman and the Syren
Le Pêcheur et la sirène
El pescador y la sirena
1856–1858
Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol

44. desire and destruction ...
the seductive and threatening mermaid
the sailor lost in his passion
… despite the violence of the sea, they seem immersed in a strange calm
Gustav Wertheimer
The Kiss of the Siren
Le Baiser de la sirène
El beso de la sirena
1882
Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, Indianapolis

47. a mermaid sitting at the edge of a cliff, lyre in hand,
staring down at a shipwrecked sailor floating in water,
as curious of him as he is of her
John William Waterhouse
The Siren
Sirène
La sirena
1900
Private collection

49. the melancholy of a mermaid …
sitting alone on a rocky beach,
yearning for human company, but unable to live on the land
a shell filled with pearls, which some believed to be formed from the tears of dead sailors
John William Waterhouse
A Mermaid
Une sirène
Una sirena
1900
Royal Academy of Arts, London

52. a harp-playing triton,
three mermaids have attached themselves to his huge frame as if it were a raft,

the ominously shaped reflection in the sea
and
the oddness of the large-eared heads that emerge from the water
Arnold Böcklin
In The Sea
Dans la mer
En el mar
1883
Art Institute Chicago, Chicago

55. a faun, hybrid of man and billy goat,
a mermaid
and
a high-spirited, vital game on the seashore, devised with human models
Franz von Stuck
Faun and Mermaid
Faune et Sirène
El fauno y la sirena
1918
Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin

57. a Symbolist and erotically connoted interpretation of the underwater world ..
the filtered sunlight blends in with the deep green of the water
to form the mysterious backdrop
for
silverfish
and
two demonic tadpole-like mermaids
(tadpoles with smiling, womanly faces)
Gustav Klimt
Mermaids or Silver Fish Nymphs
Sirènes
Sirenas
1899
Albertina, Vienna

60. René Magritte shows us a mermaid abandoning her oceanic environment,
but in a surreal twist,
she is a reversed mermaid, with a fish-like head and human legs.
….
Where did this come from?
Well, the sea behind of course.
So why then does it exist? Who caught it?
The fish looking out to us seems as ignorant and perplexed as we will always be.
René Magritte
L'invention collective
The Collective Invention
La invención colectiva
1933
Private collection

63. a garden …
a parakeet
and
a mermaid
The two, simple and beautiful, wearing an ultramarine blue,
look at each other from a distance as if representing an impossible love
between two incompatible species, one terrestrial and the other aquatic.
Henri Matisse
La Perruche et la Sirène
The Parakeet and the Mermaid
El periquito y la sirena
1952 -1953
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

66. A light breeze rustles the leaves of the palms
and
a beautiful young mermaid with flowing red hair and a colourful bouquet of flowers in her hands
floats above
the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean …
Marc Chagall
Sirène et poisson
Sirene and Fish
Sirena y pez
1956-1960
Private collection

68. Sirens and Mermaids, from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, paintings
Sirènes, du Moyen Âge au XXe siècle, peintures
Sirenas, de la Edad Media al siglo XX., pinturas
images and text credit
  www.

Music The Piano Guys Crescendo Piano & cello
created olga_oes
thanks for watching
[email protected]