This Parastone resin Salvador Dali Statue Elephant (1944-1946) features the iconic surreal elephant figure, part of the recurrent elephant motif used throughout his oeuvre. This surreal iconic elephant is first present in the background of his notorious works Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening (1944) and later in the foreground of his work, The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1946). The Surrealists’ exploration of the human psyche and dreams reached new heights in the works of the Spanish-born Salvador Dalí. In his works, Dalí probed a deeply erotic dimension, studying the writings of Richard von Krafft-Ebing and Sigmund Freud, and inventing what he called the “paranoiac-critical method” to assist his creative process. Dalí’s surrealist works are characterized by their haunting allegorical empty space where eve time has ended. An eerie, never-setting sun usually illuminates the barren landscapes, with often amorphous and imaginary creatures in the foreground. Dalí rendered every detail of this dreamscape with precise control, striving to make the world of his paintings convincingly real–in his words, to make the irrational concrete. More details on Salvador Dali Statue Elephant (1944-1946):
Original Artwork: Dalí, Salvador. Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second before Wakening Up. 1944. Oil on Panel. 51 x 41 cm. Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid
Original Artwork: Dalí, Salvador. The Temptation of Saint Anthony. 1946. Oil on Canvas. 89,50 x 119,50 cm. Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique.
The artist who above all others symbolizes Surrealism in the public imagination is the Spaniard, Salvador Dalí. His genius for publicity brought the word “Surrealism” to the level of a common noun in all languages. Not only Dali's art denotes that is irrational and erotic, but also mad–and fashionable. All at once, his paintings, his writings, his utterances, his actions, his appearance, and his iconic mustache celebrate his eccentricity.
The Surrealists’ exploration of the human psyche and dreams reached new heights in Dalí’s extravagant works. In his paintings, sculptures, jewelry, and designs for furniture and movies, Dalí probed a deeply erotic dimension. While studying the writings of von Krafft-Ebing and Freud, he invented what he called the “paranoiac-critical method” to assist his creative process.
Dalí’s surrealist works are characterized by their haunting allegorical empty space where even time has ended. An eerie, never-setting sun usually illuminates the barren landscapes, with often amorphous and imaginary creatures in the foreground. Dalí rendered every detail of this dreamscape with precise control, striving to make the world of his paintings convincingly real–in his words, to make the irrational concrete.