I’ve seen all good people – Yes
In The Absinthe Drinker, the viewer must work their way around the tables in a zigzag direction to reach the green glass of absinthe, which is the focal point of the painting. The layout of the tables is crucial to this painting because they become obstacles that hinder and confuse the viewer from reaching the center of the painting. The layout and color of the tables make them appear like large squares similar to a chessboard. In the song I’ve Seen All Good People by Yes chess is a prominent theme. The line “move on back two squares” is a chess term that means to question and alter your position. As the viewer moves “back two squares” through the painting they will become confused and change the way they reach the center of the painting.
White rabbit – Jefferson airplane
As the viewer moves through The Absinthe Drinker trying to dissect the meaning and reach the focal point, the viewer becomes disoriented and confused. This feeling comes from the chaotic maze you have to go through to reach the theme of the painting, which is the green glass of absinthe. Degas did this because he wanted the viewer to feel the same feelings of bewilderment that the woman was experiencing from the absinthe. White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane compares similarities between the hallucinogenic effects of LSD and the images seen in Alice in Wonderland. In Alice and Wonderland, Alice took drug- like substances that enabled her to transform into other things and experience more than what she previously could. White Rabbit is supposed to encourage people to experience more than what they were able to or what society was letting them experience. This relates to The Absinthe Drinker because by making the viewer feel disoriented and confused the viewer is at the same mental level as the woman in the painting, therefore helping the viewer connect with woman. This connection between the viewer and the woman would not have existed without experiencing confusion beforehand.
Sad Lisa – Cat Stevens
After reaching a connection with the woman, the viewer begins to feel bad for the woman. The blank expression on the woman’s face shows her own obliviousness to her personal and obvious emotional distress. Even though she is sitting close to the man next to her, she seems lonely and friendless because regardless of the close distance between herself and the man they are both staring in opposite directions and are clearly disengaged from one another.
While my guitar gentle weeps – the Beatles
The song While My Guitar Gently Weeps by the Beatles is about trying but failing to find inspiration in the world and because of this, we have forgotten about love. Our lack of imagination and ability to be inspired is because we are being misguided into paths of selfishness and are living in an unnatural state where we have forgotten about love. In The Absinthe Drinker, the woman’s fixation on absinthe and the state it converts her to is the reason she has lost her ability to find and even appreciate love.
Like a rolling stone – Bob Dylan
The zigzag course into the painting and the path leaving the painting produces confusion and questions on where to go next. The woman in The Absinthe Drinker has lost all direction in her life and appears to have very little goals. She is very similar to the woman in Bob Dylan’s song Like A Rolling Stone. The chorus in Like a Rolling Stone is “How does it feel…to be on your own…with no direction home”. The woman is isolated from her surroundings but she is also confined to her surroundings. Also, the woman has no direction on where to go next just like the complicated direction into to the painting.
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