Today I'll be comparing a small slice of a painting with the whole, demonstrating why the whole painting is there.
To the left is the full image for "The Temptation of Saint Anthony".
This piece, by the great Salvador Dali himself, is...interesting. It shows a man (presumably Saint Anthony) in the lower left corner, holding a cross against a parade of spindle-legged...things, such as a horse and a house. The rather normal anatomy and structure of Anthony creates an enormous contrast with the exaggerated, stretched form of the parade of figures coming at him. Also contrasted is their size- Anthony is very small and the other figures appear to be behemoths. The lines of the legs of the creatures draw the viewer's eye down the line of creatures and into the background. The viewer's eye is not drawn to Anthony whatsoever- possibly to emphasize how insignifigant he is next to the giant creatures.
To the right is a cut version of the painting:
This bit of the painting emphasizes Anthony more, but it cuts out a lot of the creatures coming at him. Here, the lines of the horse's legs draw the eye to Anthony and the ground, rather than deep into the painting. In this small piece it seems like Anthony is standing against a single beast, rather than being attacked by a parade of monsters, making him seem stronger. Overall, this small bit of the painting makes Anthony seem less helpless and weak, which is probably why Dali painted the whole instead of this small bit.
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