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Little cinders (1928)
Petites cendres
Analysis: “Cinecitas” (Little cinders) was painted when Dalí was completing his military service. It is one of a series of paintings that mark the emergence of themes and symbols that were to dominate Dalí’s work. It also shows Dalí producing a more definite Surrealist style, as does “The Wounded Bird“.
Little cinders are referring here to the red marks that are attacking the limbless body. The body, though it is more male than female, has no genitals but to the right of it a hand forms the shape of male genitalia. There are also several headless female bodies; one covered in dark veins squeezes her lactating breast. Dalí uses various techniques of depiction here: some images are painted quite realistically, like the female body in the bottom middle of the painting, while others like the donkey above, appear as a scattered outline only.
The decapitated head of Dalí’s friend Lorca appears as if dead, lying on the ground underneath the body. One of their favorite games was for Lorca to pretend he was dead; he could do this quite convincingly for long periods of time.
The Salvador Dali Gallery 