Tag Archives: Painting

0329-Eggs on the plate without the plate (1932)

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Oil on canvas, 42 x 60 cm The Salvador Dali Museum, St Petersburg (Florida)

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Eggs on the plate without the plate (1932)
Oeufs sur le plat sans le plat

Analysis: Dalí tells us that this work was inspired by an intra-uterine memory. He says that one day, after vigorously rubbing his eyes, he became fascinated with the brilliant yellow, orange, and ochre colors he saw. As a result, he says, he had a flashback to his mother’s womb, and created this paranoiac-critical explanation of the experience.
Suspended on a string, in the center of the work is a single egg yolk, which Dalí said represented himself in the womb. Below that, the two eggs on the plate (curious, that plate, look at the title again) were painted with a shimmering yolk. These represented the piercing gaze of Gala Dalí, whom Dalí had met in 1929. At the time, she had been the darling of the Surrealist movement, not to mention the wife of Paul Eluard, the French poet. It was said that her gaze could pierce through walls, and Dalí is paying her homage here.
A large, cubist building dominates the scene, while other objects are attached to the wall facing the eggs. First is a small, dripping watch, a continuation of the theme of the melting watches done in The Persistence of Memory. Above that is a phallic ear of corn, representing male sexuality. Just to the left of the ear of corn is a window in the building, and standing in it, looking out through another window, are the father and son figures that were originally painted in The First Days of Spring, some three years ago. Off in the distance are the rocks of Dalí’s homeland.

0328-The dream approaches (1932)

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Oil on canvas, 54,3 x 65,1 cm Perls Galleries, New-York

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The dream approaches (1932)
Le rêve approche

Analysis: “The Dream Approaches” has the haunting atmosphere of a dream, aided by a luminescent pre-dawn sky. In the foreground of the painting is a potentially coffin-shaped form, over which white material is draped. On the right side of this block is a large cocoon shape, its opening suggesting the female genitalia. Standing on the sandy beach is a naked man, classical in form as well as stance, with one hand raised and his hips tilted. The brushwork on his body creates the illusion that dark flames are swirling along his back.
On the right, next to two trees that are still half in darkness, is a tall tower with one solitary window at the top. The tower seems like a ruin as the plaster is falling away and there are cracks along it. Amongst other paintings, this tower can also be seen in “The Horseman of Death” (1934). Towers appear in Dalí’s work as a symbol of desire and death. In his autobiographical writings, Dalí explained this as owing to his childhood memories of a mill tower, where he had felt both sexual and violent urges toward a girl.

0327-Diurnal fantasies (1932)

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Oil on canvas, 100 x 81 cm The Salvador Dali Museum, St Petersburg (Florida)

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Diurnal fantasies (1932)
Fantaisies diurnes

Analysis: Enigmatic is the single best word to use to describe this painting. Although Dalí had been painting some strange objects into his works for years now, the object in the center is most interesting. In form it is similar to the wall shown in “Memory of the Child Woman” which is also a sexual Surrealist tribute to Dalí’s lover and muse, Gala.
In this work however, the scene is simpler, consisting mainly of an elongated, somewhat rounded looking wall with several smooth alcoves in it. The largest of these houses a key, a symbol for the sex act, and a red jewel adorns the center. In several of the smaller alcoves, Dalí had written the words “Ma mère” or “My mother” over and over again, certainly a tribute to his dead mother, who had passed away in 1921.
Some differences between this work and its companion piece are the scenery, barely visible at the edges, and the addition of what might be the ruin of a Roman or Corinthian column. Dalí often played near the ruin of Ampurius, on the plane of Ampurdan near his home. References to classical Greco-Roman themes, architecture or gods are often associated with this connection that Dalí felt with his ancient ancestors in Europe.
Additionally, Dalí has rendered this work in a soothing blue tone, which despite the ram’s skull in the foreground, creates a sense of calm. It is thought that Dalí used the blue tone in both this work and others to honor one of the greatest Spanish painters of all time, Velazquez.