Illumined Pleasures

The title of this work may refer to the luminous imagery projected on or performed within the theater-like boxes that dominate the composition. Here Dalí played with the disjunctions between reality and the illusion experienced in the darkness of a movie theater. The imagery, realized through a combination of painting and collage, refers to personal and universal dreams and anxieties. Dalí's own disembodied head appears in the middle box, while an allegory of castration anxiety plays out below. Underscoring the experience of motion–picture viewing presented in the painting, this work illustrated the shooting script for Un Chien andalou when it was published in the journal La Révolution surréaliste.

Credit: The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection