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Dali

       

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Dali's Symbols ~

As if to emphasize the reality of Dali’s hallucinations, his surreal iconography is placed in the landscape of cliffs at the bay of Port Lligat on the Costa Brava, his home and studio. 

He describes the origin of the soft watches was derived from dreaming of Camembert cheese;    the cheese melts and time ceases to have permanence. 

A crutch is generally thought of as assistance for the injured. It is generally a temporary object in one’s life, and helps when one is unable to support oneself. Dali’s use of the crutch is similar in that he uses it for support, but it seems to be more for emotional support than the physical. 

In Dali’s work ants represent decay, decomposition, change. He was fascinated how these tiny insects where able to produce such large changes. In Dali’s famous film Un Chien Andalou the ants are devouring a hand. So ants destroy things, it means it ceases its permanence. 

Spain has always been a country of flies. Dali called them the "Muses of the Mediterranean". He claimed Greek philosophers lying in the sun derived their inspiration from flies.   Dali said  he imagined Velazquez surrounded by flies as he painted. And when Dali grew his moustache beyond normal size, he insisted it had the virtue of attracting and trapping flies, like flypaper,   so that he could paint in peace. 

Ants, the fly, the yielding watch, open horizon, all suggest transitory, non-persisting time.

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©2014 Joseph Canger.com