Salvador Dali, Dream Caused By the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening (1944)
Dali, a Surrealist painter of the twentieth century, needs no lengthy introduction for one to easily recognize his bizarre, dreamlike, “surreal”, imagery that truly defined him as an artist. Instead of a boring history lesson on Salvador Dali, I prefer to explore the ideology behind his works and explore their possible meanings. With this particular painting we again see a painting that right off the bat looks crazy and weird, something only the subconscious or dream world could create. Dali is arguably the most famous artist creating these types of works, for he held nothing back when it came to unleashing the automatic. Sigmund Freud was a large inspiration for Dali’s dreamscape paintings and although we may never involve ourselves so deeply into psychoanalysis, I believe the surrealist ideal doesn’t require us to do so in order to gain insight and take something from the painting. The ideal is that basically all facets of life are teetering between a balance of the real, the tangible, things that makes sense and also the intangible, the subconscious, dreams, the weird, wacky, and unexplainable. Without one or the other, life isn’t balanced. What is significant about this “balance” in my opinion is in the war torn times of the early twentieth century, when surrealism was developed, people needed balance, they needed stability to be comfortable. So the idea that surrealism or Dali’s paintings are a rejection of the normal or using nonsense to combat the normal is almost in my opinion correct. However I don’t believe the motive was to just turn everything into dream worlds and reject all that is normal like many see surrealism to be, I believe that his work was intended to be almost like a safe haven for those looking to escape the monotony of everyday life. I believe Salvador Dali is a genius and amazing surrealist artist because he was able to recreate the subconscious and the dream like places and by doing so he forces the viewer away from the “norm” even if it is just for a moment, to provide that balance.
Images from: artstor.org
Joshua Hancock
The Surrealist Perspective 
I really like your opinion of Salvador Dali; about describing him as an artist that wants to help the normal person get away from the monotony of everyday life. This is a very interesting concept as I wonder if that was truly ever his intention. When I look at his paintings I have to say my mind is completely taken away from everyday life as I wonder to myself what he is trying to portray. I think too surrealism is a combination of both the “normal” and the “weird and wacky” but I do think that surrealism is one of the most expressive types of art as I feel the artist can really convey a direct meaning or message.
In the article “The Surrealist Legacy” I liked how you took a modern approach to surrealism and explored the different ways surrealism is still popular today. You touched on an aspect that no one else in the class did, which is always refreshing to read! This article made me think of images that I have seen that were surrealist, despite the modern twist.