Allegory Painting

Allegory Painting

In allegorical paintings, figures may symbolise various emotional states or personify abstract concepts like love, envy, or Revolution.

An allegory is a representation of one subject using the guise of another. It has a long history in all art forms, primarily due to its potent ability to convey intricate ideas and concepts in a straightforward and tangible manner to viewers, readers, or listeners.

In the context of contemporary art, allegory occurs when one narrative can symbolise another, a concept initially introduced in Craig Owens' book, ‘The Allegorical Impulse: Toward a Theory of Postmodernism’. An instance of this allegorical usage can be seen in Sarah Lucas's artwork ‘Two Fried Eggs and a Kebab’ from 1992, where food signifies aspects of sexual politics. Owens asserts that artists employing allegory reveal how objects can carry not just one, but multiple meanings.


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Parra's studio, with Parra at the centre, his back to the camera as he works on the large painting takes centre stage, showing a faceless blue woman in a striped dress, painted in red, purple, blue and teal. The studio is full of brightly coloured paints, with a large window on the right and a patterned rug across the floor under the painting.