Symbols in Salvador Dali works
Salvador Dali was a famous painter who incorporated different art techniques in his paintings. Dali was a surrealist painter and was known for his use of different symbols in his art work. Some of the symbols he used represented his current emotional state, struggle with religion as well as the different times of his life. Some of his most famous paintings have symbols in them that are talked about to this very day. Below are some of the most commonly used symbols in Dali’s works and what they meant.
1) Angels — Dali used angels in his paintings to symbolize the power to enter heaven and a communication passage with God. It was a way of showing that he believed in a superior being. Angels represented the spiritual realm and were used in several of his paintings.
2) Crutches — From a young age, Dali found a pair of crutches that his father used and since then was fascinated by them. The crutches in his paintings symbolized reality, especially in the surrealism art work. The crutches were meant to keep a person grounded to reality and not let them wander so far away into an imaginary world.
3) Elephants — The elephant symbols that Dali used in his paintings had long, thin feebly legs with a strong structure on their backs. The long, thin legs symbolized desire, whereas the load on their backs symbolized domination and strength. The strength to carry very huge load on very thin legs was portrayed as unimaginable strength.
4) Ants — Salvador Dali studied ants at a very young age and also observed them. The use of ants in his paintings represented decay and decomposition. He studied how the ants would be present on decaying matter and used them to send a message in his paintings.
5) Eggs — Dali was known to have a struggle in his Christian life during his career as a painter. The eggs he used in his paintings were a symbol of the life and rebirth of Christ. It also symbolized life in general as life begins from an egg the hard shell and soft insides represents how life can be sometimes.
6) Drawers — Salvador Dali’s several paintings had drawers on them, which symbolized memory and the subconscious. He used them on different sculptures and on different parts of the human body in his paintings.
7) Clocks — Salvador Dali’s clocks are amongst some of his most famous symbols and paintings. He often used them as melting clocks in his paintings, it is said that he got this idea from observing a piece of cheese melting in the sun. The clocks symbolize time devouring itself and everything around it.
Salvador Dali’s paintings have been termed as immortal as they are nothing short of spectacular. Dali drew inspiration from his daily routine and from the different attributes he had in life. He incorporated different things like the telephone, dessert plains, statues and in some cases bicycles in his paintings. The symbols often represented some of his worst fears, pain, inspiration and different emotions.
