Elephants with long legs artist. Salvador Dali surrealism in original wax sculptures transformed into bronze

“Elephants” is a painting by Salvador Dali, creating a minimalistic and almost monochromatic surreal plot. The absence of many elements and the blue sky makes it unlike other paintings, but the simplicity of the painting enhances the attention that the viewer pays to Bernini's elephants - a repeated element in Dali's work.

The man who conquered reality

Dali is one of those artists who rarely leave anyone indifferent even among people unfamiliar with art. It is not surprising that he is the most popular artist of modern times. The surrealist’s paintings are painted as if reality, as the world around it sees it, did not exist for Dali.

Many experts are inclined to think that the fruits of the artist’s imagination, poured onto the canvas in the form of unrealistic subjects, are the fruit of a painful mind, eaten by psychosis, paranoia and delusions of grandeur (an opinion with which the masses often agree, thereby trying to explain what cannot be understood) . Salvador Dali lived as he wrote, thought as he wrote, therefore his paintings, like the canvases of other artists, are a reflection of the reality that the surrealist saw around him.

Video: Elephants - Salvador Dali, review of the painting

In his autobiographies and letters, through a thick veil of arrogance and narcissism, a rational attitude to life and his actions, regret and recognition of his own weak character, which drew strength from unshakable confidence in his own genius, is visible. Having severed ties with the artistic community of his native Spain, Dali declared that surrealism was him, and he was not mistaken. Today, the first thing that comes to mind when meeting the word “surrealism” is the name of the artist.

Repeating characters

Dali often used recurring symbols in his paintings, such as clocks, eggs or slingshots. Critics and art historians are unable to explain the meaning of all these elements and their purpose in paintings. It is possible that the reappearing objects and objects connect the paintings with each other, but there is a theory that Dali used them for commercial purposes to increase attention and interest in his paintings.

Whatever the motives for using the same symbols in different paintings, the artist for some reason chose them, which means they had a secret meaning, if not a purpose. One of such elements that passes from canvas to canvas are “long-legged” elephants with an obelisk on their back.

For the first time such an elephant appeared in the painting “A Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate, a Second Before Awakening.” Subsequently, Salvador Dali’s painting “Elephants” was painted, in which he depicted two such animals. The artist himself called them “Bernini’s Elephants”, since the image was created under the influence of a dream in which Bernini’s sculpture walked in the funeral procession of the Pope.

Salvador Dali, “Elephants”: description of the painting

In the painting, two elephants on incredibly long and thin legs walk across a desert plain towards each other against the backdrop of a red-yellow sunset sky. At the top of the picture, the stars are already shining in the sky, and the horizon is still illuminated by bright sunlight. Both elephants bear the attributes of the Pope and are covered with identical carpets to match the elephants themselves. One of the elephants has lowered his trunk and head and is heading from west to east, the other is walking towards him, raising his trunk.

Video: Paintings by Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali's painting "Elephants" makes everything except the animals themselves drown and dissolve in the bright light of the sunset. At the feet of the elephants are depicted the outlines of human figures walking towards them; their shadows are elongated almost as grotesquely as the elephants’ legs. One of the figures resembles the silhouette of a man, the other - a woman or an angel. Between the figures of people, in the background, there is a translucent house, illuminated by the rays of the setting sun.

Symbolism of Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali's painting "Elephants" seems simpler than many others, since it does not abound in many elements and is made in a narrow and rather dark color palette.

The symbols, in addition to the elephants themselves, are:

• bloody sunset;
• a translucent house that looks more like a monument;
• desert landscape;
• running figures;
• "mood" of elephants.

In many cultures, elephants are symbols of power and influence, perhaps this is what attracted the great egoist Dali. Some associate the choice of Bernini's elephants with a symbol of religion, however, most likely, the special attraction of the sculpture for the surrealist Dali is that Bernini created it without ever seeing a real elephant in his life. The long, thin legs of the elephants in the painting are contrasted with their mass and strength, creating a distorted, double symbol of strength and power that rests on a shaky structure.

Salvador Dali was an artist with superhuman flights of fancy and a unique imagination. Not everyone understands his paintings, and very few can give them a specific explanation supported by facts, but everyone agrees that each painting by the Spanish surrealist is, to one degree or another, a reflection of reality as the artist perceived it.

Salvador Dali's painting "Elephants" is an excellent example of a surreal subject. She creates a reality that resembles an alien planet or a strange dream.

The eccentric, exciting surrealist Dali more than once turned to the theme of elephants in his paintings. For some reason they worried him. He had Swans with Elephants, The Temptation of St. Anthony, and then in 1948 Salvador Dali's Elephants.

Dali's personality

This complex person cannot be described in a nutshell, but the outline of the image can be given. He grew up as a very capricious and uncontrollable child. Already in childhood, he developed fears and various complexes that prevented him from living among children as equals. He studied painting at an art school and then at the Academy of San Fernando.

After dropping out of school, he moved to Paris, where he began to develop his surrealist style. But a trip to Italy makes him delighted with the works of the Renaissance. He fills the paintings with realistic images, but introduces his incredible fantasies into them.

Italy and its influence on Dali's work

This is how Salvador Dali’s painting “Elephants” was born in 1937, or more precisely, it is “Swans Reflecting Elephants”. It depicts swans, which, sitting on the shore of a lake, are reflected in the water along with the trees.

It is the necks and wings of swans that form the figures of elephants. The trees complete the picture, transforming into the bodies and powerful legs of elephants. This painting is a reversal. If you look closely, the swans will turn into elephants. The background depicts a Catalan landscape. Its color is the fiery colors of autumn. Salvador Dali's painting "Elephants" will be painted later. Art critics find in it the influence of D. Bernini. And the artist himself did not deny that he was inspired by the sculpture of the great creator of the Baroque style: an elephant carrying an obelisk on its back. Salvador Dali's painting "Elephants" also has this symbol of power and dominance. Only there is not a drop of academicism or realism in it.

Salvador Dali, “Elephants”: description of the painting

Dali first painted elephants with legs as thin as flies when he lived in America. These elephants appear in a woman's dreams.

Another creation that appeared to Salvador Dali with elephants on thin legs is the temptation of St. Anthony. Unhappy Anthony in the desert tries to escape from demonic visions of terrible elephants, a rearing horse, a half-naked beauty, defending himself with prayer and the cross.

Salvador Dali saw other hallucinations after the World War. "Elephants" on legs are painted on a blood red background, like spilled blood, where the artist inserted the landscape of his hometown, wanting to remind one and all that no matter what happens, you should never forget where you come from. Whether it is sunset or sunrise is completely unclear.

The elephants do not fill the space of the picture. It is intentionally empty. Each viewer is given the right to imagine whatever he wants. However, not everyone has such a wild flight of fancy as the author’s.

Two animals are heading towards each other. Their legs are thin, fragile, almost invisible, multi-jointed, like those of spiders. As always, Dali has an element of eroticism. Their thin legs are the legs of desire. Both have very visible phalluses. It seems incredible how such legs can support their bodies with a load. Dali's elephants are a deliberate distortion of reality because they do not comply with the laws of gravity. They create a feeling of phantom reality.

Animals wander into oblivion along the smooth surface of the desert at an incredible height. One raised his trunk, the other lowered it. One is still cheerful and enjoying life, the other is already tired and has stopped. Between them two miniature figures of a man and a woman are barely visible as a symbol of the continuation of the human race after a terrible war that claimed millions of lives.

It is difficult to understand what the artist wanted to say. He said it best himself: “I paint pictures that make me die of joy, I create things that move me deeply, and I try to portray them honestly.”

Year of creation: 1948

Canvas, oil.

Original size: 61×90 cm

private collection, USA

Elephants is a painting by Spanish artist Salvador Dali, painted in 1948.

Two elephants walking towards each other on stilt legs against the backdrop of sunset. For the first time, such an elephant was depicted by the artist in the painting Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Waking Up.

Description of the painting by Salvador Dali “Elephants”

This canvas was painted by the artist in the mid-20th century, where the image of an elephant, which first appeared before the viewer in the painting “Dream,” once again appeared. This type of surreal elephant appears in many of Dali's works. The image of such an elephant received a special name - “Bernini’s elephant”, “Minerva’s elephant”, the image of an animal with long thin, as if breaking, legs, on the back of which there are obelisks and other attributes of the Pope.

The artist took his inspiration from the work of the famous sculptor Bernini, depicting a similar elephant with an obelisk. Viewers agree that the painting may not carry a specific meaning, but rather be a reflection of images that once shocked Dali. Many people do not understand at all the meaning of the painting and what the artist was trying to convey, but the fact is that any of his paintings was connected with the events of Dali’s life.

An absolutely incredible and fantastic picture appears before our eyes! We see a crimson red sunset. In the foreground are the giant "elephants of Minerva". We can also conclude that the action takes place in the desert: the picture is made in warm red and yellow colors, with hills of sand visible in the distance.

Two elephants walk towards each other on their long legs and carry a heavy load. It seems that a little more - and their legs will break under the unbearable load. At first glance, the elephants seem to be reflections of each other, but upon closer inspection, we see that one of them has his trunk pointing down, his head drooping. It seems that the animal is sad, its whole image shows us sadness. The trunk of the other is directed upward: this elephant, unlike the first, symbolizes joy.

Despite the fact that the picture is imbued with the spirit of surrealism and the unimaginable flight of imagination of the author, it is not difficult to understand it.

Salvador Dali "Elephants" (1948)
Canvas, oil. 61 x 90 cm
Private collection

The painting “Elephants” was painted by the Spanish artist Salvador Dali in 1948. For the first time, a typical elephant was depicted in the painting “Dream”. The image of a mythical elephant with long legs and an obelisk on its back is present in many of Dali’s paintings; this is “Bernini’s Elephant” or, as it is also called, “the elephant of Minerva,” bearing the attributes and obelisks of the pope.

This numerous depiction of elephants by Dali is inspired by Gian Lorenzo-Bernini's sculpture of an elephant with an obelisk on its back. Perhaps this picture does not carry a certain meaning, but is filled with elements seen once. Which greatly shocked the artist for various reasons. Many non-connoisseurs of art find it difficult to understand the fragment depicted in the picture, but any absurdity is a fragment of a fact from the life of the artist.

The painting shows two elephants on stilts against a sunset background. The color scheme of the sunset is made in bright colorful tones, smoothly transitioning from bright orange to delicate yellow. Beneath this extraordinary sky lies a desert, with hills of sand visible in the distance.

The surface of the desert is smooth, as if ignorant of the wind. Along it, towards each other, walk two elephants on very high and thin legs with obelisks on their backs. It seems that at the very first step the legs might fold under the heavy weight of the elephant. One elephant's trunk points upward, giving the impression of joy, while the other hangs down, like the animal's head, giving it an image of sadness and sadness. They are covered with patterned carpets in shades of gray, just like the elephants.

Below the feet of the elephants are two human silhouettes with elongated shadow reflections. One, visually similar to a man standing, and the other, running with his arms raised, resembles a female image. In the center of the picture is the outline of a house with an unusual image. The canvas is painted in the style of surrealism with the unbridled flight of imagination of the artist. Despite the distorted presentation style, the picture is clear to everyone.

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This is probably one of the most famous images created by Dali - an elephant on long multi-jointed spider legs, which is repeated from painting to painting. For example:

I think I have established the origin of this elephant. We are talking about a popular legend from medieval bestiaries, according to which an elephant has no joints in its legs, so it sleeps leaning against a tree, and if it falls, it cannot get up on its own ().

The peculiarity of the elephant is this: when it falls, it cannot get up, because it has no joints in its knees. How does he fall? When he wants to sleep, he leans against a tree and sleeps. Indians (option in the lists: hunters). Knowing about this property of the elephant, they go and cut down the tree a little. An elephant comes. to lean against, and as soon as he approaches the tree, the tree falls along with him. Having fallen, he cannot get up. And he starts crying and screaming. And another elephant hears and comes to help him, but cannot lift the fallen one. Then they both scream, and the other twelve come, but they too cannot lift the fallen one. Then everyone shouts together. After everyone else, a small elephant comes, puts its trunk under the elephant and lifts it up.
The property of a small elephant is this: if you light its hair or bones in some place, then neither a demon nor a snake will enter there and no other evil will happen there.
Interpretation.
How the image of Adam and Eve is interpreted: Adam and his wife, while they were in the bliss of paradise before the sin, did not yet know intercourse and did not have the thought of union. But when the woman ate from the tree, that is, mental mandrakes, and gave it to her husband, then Adam knew the wife and gave birth to Cain on evil waters. As David said: “Save me, O God, for you have reached the waters of my soul.”
And the big elephant that came, that is, the Law, could not lift the fallen one. Then 12 elephants came, that is, the face of the prophets, and they could not lift it up. After all, the mental elephant, or Christ God, came and raised the one who had fallen from the ground. The first of all became the least of all, “He made Himself of no reputation, taking on the form of a slave,” so that He could save everyone.

Since Dali describes his method as "paranoid-critical", it makes perfect sense that he would draw a LOT of joints on the elephant's legs ("but I don't believe your bestiary and its theology!"). And it is completely clear why Anthony is attacked not so much by naked women (as in the original tradition), but by elephants on multi-jointed legs: it is not a momentary bodily desire that is being tempted, but the very foundations of faith. Which is actually both scarier and funnier. “Mental elephant” for the 20th century sounds quite funny in itself, but also scary (cf. “Heffalump” - another mental elephant tempting Winnie the Pooh and Piglet).
Dali in general, it seems, loved to make fun of the scholastic tradition, since his “Great Masturbator” is none other than the Aristotelian prime mover mind, which thinks itself.
PS: please note that the horse’s legs are normal, they are simply elongated disproportionately.