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The full title "One second before awakening from a dream caused
by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate" explains how Dal’ was
inspired by a dream that Gala reported to him. He saw the dream as an
illustration of Freud's theory that dreams could be triggered by
external stimuli. Gala, asleep and floating, feels the threat of the
bee-sting, symbolised by the rifle with bayonet. The pomegranate, that
probably attracted the bee, can be seen in the foreground and, in a huge
version, on the left of the painting. It seems to be the source of the
enormous fish with a snarling tiger leaping out of its mouth. In the
background the elephant can be seen on long thin legs defying the laws
of gravity, a recurring theme in Dal’'s works.
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ABOUT THE ARTWORK: The
full title "One second before awakening
from a dream caused by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate"
explains how Dali was inspired by a dream that Gala reported to him. He
saw the dream as an illustration of Freud's theory that dreams could be
triggered by external stimuli.
ABOUT THE ART PERIOD: Dali
sublimated
his life in his art of painting. Relying on great
craftsmanship, acquired in all sorts of art experiments, he lifted
surrealism, in an inimitable self-willed manner, to exceptional
heights. He photographed, as it were, associatively what was enacted in
his mind. Incited by, at the time, new psychological insights he tried
to fix his subconscious with images, and to visualize his dreams in all
their inscrutable symbolism. It was for this purpose that he developed
his famous "paranoid-critical" method. To us, one dimensional mortal
souls, only the paintings and other expressions remain as fascinating
witnesses to a literally unbelievably intense and active life. Perhaps
we are so drawn to them because not only do they allow us to have a
look inside Dali’s subconscious, but they also are a mirror reflecting
our own souls.
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