The Great Masturbator.
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Title |
The Great Masturbator. |
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Creator |
Dali, Salvador (Spanish painter and printmaker, 1904-1989) |
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Date |
1929 |
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Cultural Context |
Spanish
European
Western European |
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Style/Period |
Surrealist
Modern (styles and periods)
Modernist |
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Subject |
Symbols
Fantasy
Lust
Sex
Relations between the sexes
Fear
Disgrace
Anxiety
Distress
Women
Men
Couples
Hugging
Genitals
Heads (Anatomy)
Legs
Animals
Lions
Wild cats
Tongues
Ants
Locusts
Insects
Lilies
Flowers |
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Description |
"To the right of the photograph [referring to the photograph in Dali's painting The First Days of Spring, 1929] we find the first appearance of an icon soon to proliferate in Dali's work: a waxy-complexioned head with closed eyes, long eyelashes, prominent nose and a giant locust glued to the spot where there should be a mouth. The shape of the head, which represents Dali as compulsive masturbator, was inspired by a rock in the inlet of Cullaró at Cape Creus and was soon to find its maximum expression in The Great Masturbator, begun in the summer of 1929. As regards the locust, we already know that Dali was terrified of these creatures. Their obsessive presence in the paintings of this period perhaps alludes to the painter's fear of sexual contact and impotence, while the closed eyes indicate that the masturbator, oblivious to external reality, is only concerned with the erotic fantasies being played out in the theatre of his mind." (Excerpt, pp.256-257); "The head featured in The Great Masturbator, inspired by the rock at Cullaró, had made its inaugural appearance in The First Days of Spring. To its representation in this much larger painting Dali added, along with the lion, locust and other elements present in so many paintings of the period, an allusion to fellatio, another of his secret desires. According to the artist, the face placed beside the prominent genitals of the male figure with bloodied knees was inspired by the print of a woman smelling a lily, and is 'mixed with memories of Cadaqués, of summer, of the rocks of Cape Creus'. The intense eroticism of the scene is heightened by the noticeably phallic aspect of the arum lily's spathe and of the lion's tongue. The theme of fellatio was to recur frequently in the paintings done over the following months, and one cannot but deduce that, in this respect, Gala gave Dali what he wanted, or promised to do so." (Excerpt, pp.282-283) |
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Material |
Oil on canvas
Oil paint (pigmented coating)
Paint
Canvas |
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Measurements |
110 x 150 cm |
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Technique |
Oil painting (technique)
Painting (image-making) |
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Work Type |
Oil paintings
Paintings |
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Source |
Gibson, Ian. The Shameful Life of Salvador Dali. New York; London: W.W. Norton, 1998. (Color plate XIV) |
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Rights |
Photograph reproduced in Gibson courtesy: Archivo Fotográfico Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. |
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Digital Publisher |
University of Louisville Department of Fine Arts/Allen R. Hite Art Institute Visual Resources Center |
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Format |
image/jpeg |
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Digital File Name |
VRC 2447-10.jpg |
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Rating |
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