piled high with timepieces of all kinds—mantel clocks prompts

3 months ago

A collaborative painting blending the sweeping, atmospheric landscapes of Joos de Momper with the surrealist vision of Max Ernst. A weathered horse-drawn flatbed wagon trundles along a winding dirt road, piled high with timepieces of all kinds—mantel clocks, pocket watches, alarm clocks, and sundials. Some are pristine, others rusted, cracked, or missing hands. Each intact clock displays a different time of day, as if fractured moments from across time are being transported together. The horse, properly harnessed with standard gear appropriate for such a rig, moves steadily and naturally. Surrounding the scene is a vast, moody landscape rendered in de Momper’s signature style: rolling hills, shadowy groves, and a turbulent sky heavy with stormlight. In the foreground, Ernst’s influence emerges in a junkyard of discarded clocks—warped faces, twisted springs, and tangled gears creating an unsettling mechanical graveyard. Time itself appears fragmented and decaying in this haunting fusion of Flemish Baroque majesty and surrealist distortion