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What is "The Transfiguration of Narcissus"? An easy-to-understand explanation of Salvador Dali's famous works

2023/03/08 TRiCERA ART

What is "The Transfiguration of Narcissus"?

The Transfiguration of Narcissus is one of the most famous works by the Spanish artist Salvador Dali.
At first glance, it appears to be a coastal scene bathed in evening light, but upon closer inspection, one realizes that the motifs are arranged in a disjointed manner, as if in a dream.
This work has something in common with Salvador Dali's most famous work, "The Fixation of Memory," and is a work that well expresses the characteristics of Dali's art.
For more information on "The Fixation of Memory," please refer to this article.

The Transfiguration of Narcissus: The Story Behind the Work

Narcissus is a character from Greek mythology from whom the word "narcissist," which also corresponds to the word "egotism," is derived.
This painting is based on the mythological story of Narcissus, who kept looking at his reflection in the surface of the water until it turned into a single daffodil flower.

Narcissus was born an immensely beautiful boy, but he loved only himself, and he was turned on by the many women who were attracted to his beauty. One day, the gods saw Narcissus' reflection in the surface of the water. Plagued by the inability to embrace this beautiful figure herself, Narcissus died of rage. The gods eternalized Narcissus as a daffodil flower that grew on the shore.

Derived from this story, a Spanish Catalan proverb (Dali's birthplace) ridicules people who look only in the mirror as having "a bulb in their head.

In the painting, Narcissus is seen on the left side of the center of the painting, with her limbs dipped in water and half-transformed.

In the foreground, it is being transformed into a daffodil flower that is about to grow out of its eggshell.

Also in the background is a group of seemingly unrelated nudes, a dog that appears to be eating meat, and a figure standing in a sculptural pose on what looks like a chess board.

If you look closely, you can also see in the distance, behind the mountain range on the right, a huge rock-like structure that has the exact same shape as Narcissus.

These pictorial motifs hide important Surrealist techniques. Let's take a closer look.

Mental Anxiety as a Background for Dali's Work

Narcissism can be described psychoanalytically as a complex.
Dali, who regarded his own sexual impotence (ED) as an enlarged complex, may have felt some sympathy for the story of Narcissus. From a psychoanalytic point of view, Dali's many activities as a comical genius character that caused a sensation in the public may have been a way to compensate for his own impotence and lack of confidence.

The Transfiguration of Narcissus was the first work that typifies the paranoid-critical methodology advocated by Dali. This methodology is the critical interpretation and association of deliriant phenomena to produce irrational objects (works of art). ("The Conquest of the Irrational, 1942").
Simply put, it means that by interpreting dreams, delusions, etc. in a flat way and rearranging them on the screen, a work of art based on something other than rationality is created.
Dali's "Transfiguration of the Narcissus" defined Surrealism's methodology, and from an art historical point of view, it was extremely important.

Dali's influences

Gala

The Virgin of Portorigato
Gala Dali, whose real name was Elena Ivanovna Diakonova and whose roots were in Russia, was the source of Salvador Dali's artistic ideas.
When they met, Gala was already married to a poet named Paul Éluard.
However, Gala and Salvador were united by the love of Salvador, who was ardently attracted to her charms. From then on, Gala fully supported her husband's activities as a manager.
She was also an excellent writer and had the talent to make her book, "The Autobiography of Salvador Dali," a bestseller.
Gala appears frequently in Dali's works. In "The Virgin of Portorigato," for example, the artist's deep affection for her is evident in the way he depicts his wife as the Virgin Mary.

Luis Buñuel

The artist also had a close relationship with Luis Buñuel, who collaborated with Dali on the film Dogs of Andalusia.
The film is a realization of events in a dream; there is no clear plot or storyline, just a series of disjointed events.

From the film "The Dog of Andalusia

Sigmund Freud

Dali had read Freud's "The Judgment of Dreams" and other works, and he added his own interpretations of Freud's examples and his own sexual anxieties.
Freud believed that unconscious desires, which are trapped under the conscious mind, emerge through dreams.
Based on this belief, Dali reinterpreted his own dreams and recomposed them as paintings.

Encounter Surrealist Artists at TRiCERA ART

Artists from 126 countries have exhibited their works at TRiCERA ART.
Among them, there are many works that can be called surrealist, which were strongly influenced by Dali. In this issue, we would like to introduce three popular surrealist artists at TRiCERA ART to the readers of this article.

M. Febriandy

M. Febriandy is a painter from Indonesia. He paints portraits with a cardboard-like texture, which he describes as cardboard artistic, functional and fashionable philosophy.

Le jeune Macron
W 50.00cm x H 60.00cm / ¥161,800

Cathy Labudak

Cathy Labudak has attracted attention for her eccentric and humorous works. By combining trivial ideas that come to her mind in her daily life with classical paintings, she produces many works with a strange surrealism.

Eye Opener
W 40.60cm x H 50.80cm / ¥40,400

Yiannis Roussakis

Roussakis is a collage artist from Greece who creates fragmented but ultimately coherent works that seem to tell a story.
His technique of cohabiting unusual motifs within the same picture plane embodies the surrealism established by Dali.

Maritime Museum
W 100.00cm x H 100.00cm / JPY 199,900