Painting by Salvador Dali "Elephants" - an image that arose from a dream. Fears and fetish of a genius - the symbolism of Dali Elephant on mosquito legs

The eccentric, exciting surrealist Dali more than once turned to the theme of elephants in his paintings. For some reason they worried him. He had "Swans ..." with elephants, the temptation of St. Anthony, and then in 1948 there was a painting by Salvador Dali "Elephants".

Personality Dali

In a nutshell, this complex person cannot be described, but the contour of the image can be given. He grew up as a very capricious and uncontrollable child. Already in childhood, he had fears and various complexes that prevented him from living among children on an equal footing. He studied painting at art school and then at the Academy of San Fernando.

After dropping out, he moved to Paris, where he began to develop his surrealist style. But a trip to Italy makes him delighted with the works of the Renaissance. He fills the pictures realistic images, but introduces his incredible fantasies into them.

Italy and its influence on Dali's work

This is how Salvador Dali's painting "Elephants" was born in 1937, more precisely, it is "Swans Reflecting Elephants". It depicts swans, which, sitting on the shore of the lake, are reflected in the water along with the trees.

It is the necks and wings of swans that form the figures of elephants. The trees complete the picture, turning into the bodies and powerful legs of elephants. This picture is a flip. If you look closely, the swans will mirror themselves into elephants. In the background is a Catalan landscape. Its color is the fiery colors of autumn. Salvador Dali's painting "Elephants" will be painted later. Art critics find in it the influence of D. Bernini. And the artist himself did not refuse that he was inspired by the sculpture of the great creator of the Baroque style: an elephant carrying an obelisk on its back. Salvador Dali's painting "Elephants" also has this symbol of power and domination. Only there is not a drop of academicism and realism in it.

Salvador Dali, "Elephants": description of the painting

For the first time, Dali painted elephants with thin, like those of flies, when he lived in America. These elephants appear in a woman's dreams.

Another creation that appeared to Salvador Dali with thin-legged elephants is the temptation of St. Anthony. The unfortunate Anthony in the desert is trying to escape from demonic visions of terrible elephants, a rearing horse, a half-naked beauty, defending himself with prayer and a cross.

Salvador Dali saw other hallucinations after the World War. "Elephants" on legs are written on a blood-red, like spilled blood, background, where the artist inserted the landscape of his hometown wanting to remind one and all that no matter what happens, you should never forget where you come from. Whether it is sunset or sunrise is completely unclear.

Elephants do not fill the space of the picture. It is intentionally empty. Each viewer is given the right to imagine what he wants. However, such a wild flight of fancy, like the author's, is far from everyone.

Two animals are moving towards each other. Their legs are thin, fragile, almost invisible, multi-jointed, like those of spiders. As always, Dali has an element of eroticism. Their thin legs are the legs of desire. Both possess highly visible phalluses. It seems incredible how such legs can support their bodies with a load. Dali's elephants are a deliberate distortion of reality, because they do not comply with the laws of gravity. They create a sense of phantom reality.

Animals wander into oblivion on the smooth surface of the desert at an incredible height. One raised his trunk, the other lowered it. One is still cheerful and enjoys life, the other is already tired and has stopped. Between them, two miniature figures of a man and a woman are barely visible as a symbol of the continuation human race after a terrible war that claimed millions of lives.

It is difficult to understand what the artist wanted to say. He said it best himself: "I paint pictures that make me die of joy, I create things that deeply move me, and I try to portray them honestly."

Year of creation: 1948

Canvas, oil.

Original size: 61×90 cm

private collection, USA

elephants- a painting by the Spanish artist Salvador Dali, written in 1948.

Two elephants walking towards each other on stilts against the backdrop of sunset. For the first time, such an elephant was depicted by the artist in the painting A dream caused by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate a second before awakening.

Description of the painting by Salvador Dali “Elephants”

This canvas was written by the artist in the middle of the 20th century, where in Once again the image of an elephant appeared, which first appeared before the viewer in the painting "Dream". This type of surreal elephant appears in many of Dali's works. The image of such an elephant received a special name - "Bernini's elephant", "Minerva's elephant", the image of an animal with long thin, as if breaking, legs, on the back of which there are obelisks and other attributes of the Pope.

The artist drew his inspiration from the work of the famous sculptor Bernini depicting a similar elephant with an obelisk. The audience agrees that the picture may not carry a specific meaning, but be a reflection of the images that once shocked Dali. Many do not at all understand the meaning of the picture and what the artist was trying to convey, but the fact is that any of his paintings was associated with the events of Dali's life.

An absolutely incredible and fantastic picture appears before our eyes! We see a crimson red sunset. On foreground gigantic "elephants of Minerva" are depicted. It can also be concluded that the action takes place in the desert: the picture is made in warm red and yellow colors, hills of sand are visible in the distance.

Two elephants walk towards each other on their long legs and carry a heavy burden. It seems that a little more - and their legs will break under an unbearable load. At first glance, the elephants seem to be reflections of each other, but looking closer, we see that one of them has a trunk pointing down, his head drooped. It seems that the animal is in sadness, its whole image shows us sadness. The trunk of the other is directed upwards: this elephant, unlike the first, symbolizes joy.

Despite the fact that the picture is saturated with the spirit of surrealism and the unimaginable flight of the author's imagination, it is not difficult to understand it.

Salvador Dali "Elephants" (1948)
Canvas, oil. 61 x 90 cm
Private collection

The painting "Elephants" spanish artist Salvador Dali wrote in 1948. For the first time, an elephant of a typical image was depicted in the painting “Dream”. The image of the mythical elephant with long legs and with an obelisk on its back, present in many paintings by Dali, this is the "Elephant of Bernini" or as it is also called the "elephant of Minerva", carrying the attributes and obelisks of the pope.

This numerous depiction of elephants by Dali is inspired by the sculpture of Gian Lorenzo-Bernini - an elephant with an obelisk on its back. Maybe, this picture does not carry certain meaning, but filled with once seen elements. Which greatly shocked the artist for various reasons. It is difficult for many non-connoisseurs of art to understand the fragment depicted in the picture, but any absurdity is a fragment of a fact from the artist's life.

The picture shows two elephants on legs - stilts against the backdrop of sunset. The color scheme of the sunset is made in bright colorful colors, smoothly transitioning from bright orange color to soft yellow. Under this extraordinary sky is the desert, in the distance with visible hills of sand.

The surface of the desert is smooth, as if unaware of the wind. On it, towards each other, there are two elephants on very high and thin legs with obelisks on their backs. It seems that at the first step, the legs can fold under the heavy weight of the elephant. One elephant has a trunk pointing up, giving the impression of joy, while the other hangs down, like the head of an animal, giving it an image of sadness and sadness. They are covered with gray patterned carpets, just like the elephants.

Below under the feet of the elephants are two human silhouettes with elongated shadow reflections. One, visually similar to a man, who is standing, and the other, running with his hands up, resembles female image. In the center of the picture, the outlines of the house of an unusual image. The canvas is written in the style of surrealism with the unrestrained flight of the artist's imagination. Despite the style of presentation in a distorted form, the picture is clear to everyone.

"Elephants" - a painting by Salvador Dali, creating a minimalistic and almost monochromatic surreal story. The absence of many elements and the blue sky makes it unlike other canvases, but the simplicity of the picture enhances the attention that the viewer pays to Bernini's elephants, a recurring element in Dali's work.

The man who conquered reality

Dali is one of those artists who rarely leave indifferent even among people who are alien to art. It is not surprising that he is the most popular artist of modern times. The paintings of the surrealist are written as if reality, such as he sees it the world, for Dali did not exist.

Many experts tend to think that the fruits of the artist’s imagination, poured onto the canvas in the form of unrealistic plots, are the fruit of a sick mind eaten by psychosis, paranoia and megalomania (an opinion that the masses often agree with, thereby trying to explain what is impossible to understand) . Salvador Dali lived as he wrote, thought as he wrote, therefore his paintings, like the canvases of other artists, are a reflection of the reality that the surrealist saw around him.

In his autobiographies and letters, through a dense veil of arrogance and narcissism, a rational attitude to life and his actions, regret and recognition of his own weakness, which drew strength from unshakable confidence in his own genius, peep through. Having severed ties with the artistic community of his native Spain, Dali declared that surrealism was him, and he was not mistaken. Today, the first thing that comes to mind when meeting the word "surrealism" is the name of the artist.

Repeating characters

Dali often used recurring symbols in his paintings, such as clocks, eggs, or slingshots. Critics and art historians are unable to explain the meaning of all these elements and their purpose in paintings. It is possible that objects and objects reappearing again and again connect the paintings to each other, but there is a theory that Dali used them for a commercial purpose in order to increase attention and interest in his paintings.

Whatever the motives for using the same symbols in different ones, for some reason chose them, which means they possessed secret meaning if not the target. One of these elements, passing from canvas to canvas, are the "long-legged" elephants with an obelisk on their backs.

For the first time, such an elephant appeared in the painting “Dream caused by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate, a second before awakening.” Subsequently, Salvador Dali's painting "Elephants" was painted, in which he depicted two such animals. The artist himself called them "Bernini's Elephants", since the image was created under the influence of a dream in which Bernini's sculpture was walking in the funeral procession of the Pope.

Salvador Dali, "Elephants": description of the painting

In the picture, two elephants on incredibly long and thin legs walk across the desert plain towards each other against the background of a red-yellow sunset sky. In the upper part of the picture, stars are already shining in the sky, and the horizon is still illuminated by bright sunlight. Both elephants bear the attributes of the Pope and are covered with the same carpets, matching the elephants themselves. One of the elephants lowered his trunk and head and is heading from west to east, the other goes towards him, raising his trunk.

Salvador Dali's painting "Elephants" makes everything except the animals themselves sink and dissolve in the bright light of the sunset. At the feet of the elephants are the outlines of human figures walking towards them; their shadows are elongated almost as grotesquely as the legs of elephants. One of the figures resembles the silhouette of a man, the other - of a woman or an angel. Between the figures of people, in the background, there is a translucent house, illuminated by the rays of the setting sun.

Symbolism of Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali's painting "Elephants" seems simpler than many others, because it does not abound with many elements and is made in a narrow and rather dark color palette.

The symbols, in addition to the elephants themselves, are:

• bloody sunset;
• a translucent house, more like a monument;
• desert landscape;
• running figures;
• "mood" of elephants.

In many cultures, elephants are symbols of power and influence, perhaps this is what attracted the great egoist Dali. Some associate the choice of Bernini's elephants with a symbol of religion, however, most likely, the special attraction of the sculpture for the surrealist Dali is that Bernini created it without seeing a real elephant even once in his life. The long, slender legs of the elephants in the painting are contrasted with their mass and strength, creating a distorted, dual symbol of the strength and power that rests on a rickety structure.

Salvador Dali was an artist with an inhuman flight of fancy and a unique imagination. Not everyone understands his paintings, and very few can give them a concrete, factual explanation, but everyone agrees that every painting by the Spanish surrealist is in one way or another a reflection of the reality that the artist perceived it.

Salvador Dali's painting "Elephants" is a great example of a surreal story. It creates a reality that resembles an alien planet or a strange dream.

It is probably one of the most famous images, created by Dali - an elephant on long multi-jointed spider legs, which is repeated from picture to picture. For example:

I think I have established the origin of this elephant. We are talking about the popular legend of medieval bestiaries, according to which the elephant has no joints in its legs, so it sleeps leaning against a tree, and if it falls, it can no longer rise itself ().

The peculiarity of the elephant is this: when he falls, he cannot get up, because he has no joints in his knees. How does he fall? When he wants to sleep, he leans against a tree and sleeps. Indians (option in the lists: hunters). knowing about this property of an elephant, they go and cut the tree a little. The elephant comes. to lean against, and as soon as he approaches the tree, the tree falls with him. Having fallen, he cannot get up. And he starts crying and screaming. And another elephant hears, and comes to help him, but cannot lift the fallen one. Then both shout, and the other twelve come, but they also cannot lift the fallen one. Then they all scream together. After all, a small elephant comes, puts his trunk under the elephant and picks him up.
The property of a small elephant is this: if you set fire to its hair or bones in some place, then neither the demon nor the snake will enter there and no other evil will happen there.
Interpretation.
How the image of Adam and Eve is interpreted: while Adam and his wife were in heavenly bliss before sinning, they did not yet know intercourse and had no thought of union. But when the woman ate from the tree, that is, mental mandrakes, and gave it to her husband, then Adam knew his wife and gave birth to Cain in bad waters. As David said, "Save me, O God, for the waters of my soul have come to pass."
And the great elephant that came, that is, the Law, could not lift the fallen one. Then 12 elephants came, that is, the face of the prophets, and they could not lift it. After all came the mental elephant, or Christ God, and lifted the one who had fallen from the earth. The first of all became the least of all, “He humbled Himself, taking on the form of a slave”, in order to save everyone

Since Dali describes his method as "paranoid-critical", it makes perfect sense that he draws a LOT of joints on the elephant's legs ("but I don't believe your bestiary and his theology!"). And it is completely understandable why Antony is attacked not so much by naked women (as in the original tradition), but by elephants on multi-jointed legs: it is not momentary bodily desire that is tempted, but the very foundations of faith. Which is actually both scarier and funnier. The "mental elephant" for the 20th century already sounds quite funny in itself, but also scary (cf. "Heffalump" - another mental elephant that tempts Winnie the Pooh and Piglet).
Dali, in general, seems to have liked to mock the scholastic tradition, since his "Great Masturbator" is none other than the Aristotelian mind-prime mover, which thinks itself.
PS: mind you, the anatomy of the horse's legs is normal, they are simply elongated disproportionately.