SALVADOR DALI PAINTING MADE IN US ON LOAN TO DALI FOUNDATION

THE FUNDACIO GALA-SALVADOR DALI PRESENTED THE LOAN OF THE WORK 'DREAM CAUSED BY THE FLIGHT OF A BEE AROUND A POMEGRANATE ONE MINUTE BEFORE AWAKENING (1944), FROM THE THYSSEN-BORNEMISZA MUSEUM, MADRID. THE OIL PAINTING WILL BE EXHIBITED AT THE DRAWINGS ROOM, NUMBER 6, OF THE DALI THEATRE-MUSEUM IN FIGUERES FROM 9.FEBRUARY UNTIL 2.MAY.2010. THE PAINTING DEPICTS A WOMAN, DALI'S WIFE GALA, SLEEPING WHILE SUNBATHING NAKED DURING A CALM DAY ON ROCKS FLOATING OVER A SEA, POSSIBLY AT PORT LLIGAT. AN ELEPHANT WITH INCREDIBLY LONG, EXTREMELY THIN LEGS WALKS ACROSS THE SEA'S HORIZON WHILE CARRYING AN OBELISK. NEAR THE WOMAN FLOAT TWO DROPS OF WATER AND A SMALL POMEGRANATE. FROM A LARGER POMEGRANATE COMES A FISH THAT SPEWS A TIGER FROM WHICH COMES ANOTHER TIGER, WHILE IN FRONT OF THAT SECOND TIGER A RIFLE'S BAYONET TOUCHES (OR NEARLY TOUCHES) THE WOMAN'S RIGHT ARM. IT WAS PAINTED WHILE DALI AND HIS WIFE GALA WERE LIVING IN AMERICA. THE BAYONET, AS A SYMBOL OF THE STINGING BEE, MAY THUS REPRESENT THE WOMAN'S ABRUPT AWAKENING FROM HER OTHERWISE PEACEFUL DREAM. THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF SIGMUND FREUD'S INFLUENCE ON SURREALIST ART AND DALI'S ATTEMPTS TO EXPLORE THE WORLD OF DREAMS IN A DREAM-SCAPE. IT HAS ALSO BEEN SUGGESTED THAT THE PAINTING IS 'A SURREALIST INTERPRETATION OF THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION'. IN 1962, DALI SAID HIS PAINTING WAS INTENDED 'TO EXPRESS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN IMAGES FREUD'S DISCOVERY OF THE TYPICAL DREAM WITH A LENGTHY NARRATIVE, THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE INSTANTANEOUSNESS OF A CHANCE EVENT WHICH CAUSES THE SLEEPER WAKE UP. THUS, AS A BAR MIGHT FALL ON THE NECK OF A SLEEPING PERSON, CAUSING THEM TO WAKE UP AND FOR A LONG DREAM TO END WITH THE GUILLOTINE BLADE FALLING ON THEM, THE NOISE OF THE BEE HERE PROVOKES THE SENSATION OF THE STING WHICH WILL AWAKEN GALA.'