Salvador Dali is very
famous for his sexual imagination and images in his paintings, especially
those around 1930. One crucial woman, Gala, appeared
in his life in 1929, since then her image had continually appeared in many
of Dali's paintings.In the process of practicing Surrealism and
painting female figures, he inevitably thinks of Gala. With her influence,
sexual images in Dali's paintings become more flourishing and symbolic.
He shows the contradictory of the fear of sex and
the desire for Gala's love thorough the incarnated sexual image, which
as the matter of fact is the transformation of Gala, whom Dali spent his
whole life to love and appreciate.
"The Enigma of Desire: My mother, My Mother, My Mother" (1929) |
Dali is sensitive to women around him.
His feelings and affections towards women he loves always show vividly
in his paintings. Woman inspires Dali's imagination and motivates him to
draw. Three women play very important roles in Dali's life. They are his
mother, sister and wife. The painting he paints about his mother is "The
Enigma of Desire: My Mother, My Mother, My Mother." In this painting,
Dali's face looks like sleeping and having a dream. This dream is the main
image of the painting, which has eighty-one boxes on it and less than half
of them are printed with the word "ma me're." The image creates delusion
in which reality mixes with illusion. The painting shows how Dali can be
preoccupied by woman he loves. The back figure of
his sister was Dali's favorite material in his early works. The
buttock of woman of which Dali dreams was also the important material for
Dali's early works. His fine touch and delicate skill even impressed Picasso
a lot. Women show their power over Dali by occupying his mind and enlightening
his potential. To be one of the few women in Dali's life, Gala proves to
be the most dominant powering that influents Dali's mind in various ways. |
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| Dali concentrated on practicing
Surrealism from 1930's to 1940's. He tried his best to search the deepest
emotions in sub-consciousness in order to paint out his most truthful and
direct feelings. Most critics believe that Dali's greatest works were those
done during his surrealistic period, (before the 1940's). Although he later
on was expelled because of one controversial painting, "The Enigma of William
Tell", he once devoted to Surrealism, which helps him to release the most
inner self. |
"The Enigma of William Tell¡¨ |
Inheriting the typical
features of Surrealism, Dali's paintings are mostly the reflections of
his desires, dreams, fears and psychological state. Dali's paintings
flourish with imagination; he searches materials in his sub-consciousness
where desires and all kinds of emotions flourish without disguise. "The
surrealists believed that the mind's imaginative powers were fueled directly
by desire" (Docent). Sexual images in Dali's paintings are shown frequently
and vividly in many forms. The twisted bodies of women and sexual organs
are the entire aphrodisiac symbols, which Dali grabs from his sub-consciousness
and daubs truthfully on the canvas. In 1930, Dali created another painting
called "Invisible Sleeping Woman, Horse, Lion." The female body is
twisted into the shape of the combination of horse, lion and woman. Dali's
ability of associating materials was proved to be one of his most apparent
characteristics. "The Surrealists understood eroticism to be the dynamic
behind the most primordial expressions of human subjectivity, revolt, chaos,
crime" (Docent). For example, if a woman appears to be transformed or distorted,
it might be that the artist conveys the kind of agitation the he felt from
his overwhelming desires. |
  
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