S.O.S. c. 1914 - 1916

Evelyn De Morgan made this painting, S.O.S., and you can almost feel the urgency in the strokes, right? It is as though the entire painting came into being through intuition. I sympathize with De Morgan and wonder what she might have been thinking when she made it? What was she feeling? There is a raw, emotional energy in the painting. The woman with her arms outstretched, the monsters lurking, and the fire burning at her feet. I think she was painting from a place of deep emotion. The paint is applied in thin, translucent layers, creating a luminous effect. Look at the detail on the monsters. Every gesture communicates something. When I look at the dragon on the left, it is menacing. Its outstretched wings and sharp teeth communicate danger. It’s like she's asking us to feel something too. There are so many artists she could be in dialogue with through this painting. Artists like William Blake, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Edward Burne-Jones all explore similar themes of spirituality, morality, and the human condition. Artists are constantly engaging in a conversation across time, inspiring one another's creativity.