Josef Vyleťal (1940-1989)

Roman sleep

oil, plywood, 1981, 30,5 x 40 cm, signed lower/ left J. Vyleťal, framed, on the back described the past. His greatest inspiration was painters such as Hieronymus Bosch, Paul Bruegel, Arcimboldo, or Francisco de Goya. He also had his role models in surrealism, where he admired Salvatore Dalí. He also had a very close relationship with Mikoláš Medek. The popular theme of death, a symbol of the futility of human struggle with fate, but also the love of ancient mythology, can be seen in the oil painting Roman Sleep. A blurred hilly landscape with pine trees evokes the rolling hills of an Italian city. In it lies a strange allegorical figure. The peculiar conglomeration of a man with a horse's head in rich robes evokes an apocalyptic monster. Her gestures, combined with the ubiquitous snakes crawling out of parts of her clothing, make us very uneasy. The striking resemblance to the image of Sleeping Venus by Giorgione leads us to think about the transience of beauty. This grotesque and oppositional figure created by the Outcast indulges in therapeutic mockery of all efforts to reverse fate and forces reconciliation. (Anita Nikl), slightly damaged frame

Provenance: Antiquarian Dlážděná

ID: 61

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