| Those sexual images expose Dali¡¦s
desire for love and fear of sex. Dali had had a strong
desire for Gala since he first met her in 1929. He was attracted
by Gala; the attraction comforted Dali and cured his hysteria. Dali described
his first kiss with Gala as "I kissed on her lips and into her mouth. I
have never kissed anyone like this before and never known that I can kiss
like that. The kiss aroused my sexual desire that has been suppressed for
so long¡K" Dali knows consciously and feels subconsciously that Gala
is very influential to him. He devotes himself to Surrealism to transform
the desire into the visible. Eventually, he shows it not only to Gala but
also to the world with diversity of female bodies and sexual organs. "The
Bather," "Invisible Sleeping Woman, Horse, Lion" and "The Birth of Liquid
Desires" are filled with female nudes and sexual implications.
Despite Dali¡¦s great affection to Gala, he has serious fear of sex and intercourse even with Gala. One of his poet friends, Federico Garcia Lorca, declared after Dali got married with Gala that "Dali can never get sexual satisfaction from any women. He hates breast and vagina. Besides, he scares of venereal diseases to death. He is an impotent erotomania" (Eric Shanes, 26). The first and probably the only sexual experience with Gala honestly depressed Dali mentally so that he later on wanted to masturbate rather than having sex with Gala again. Dali's fear of venereal diseases and his desire for Gala create a contradictory complex, which makes him can not help showing it while painting a Surrealistic type painting.
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