Salvador Dali, Birth of Liquid Dreams

Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice

1931–32

Oil and collage on canvas

37 7/8 × 44 1/4 inches (96.1 × 112.3 cm)

In the year 2012 I travelled to Italy, Venice on a cultural trip with my college. When in the Peggy Guggenheim museum I came across this magnificent piece by Salvador Dali. Dali’s work has always been a challenge to write about as it shows a great deal of unique imagination and how his thoughts and dreams are betrayed to the world. These paintings have a theatrical theme to them, as they are composed like a performance. Just like the following art piece “Birth Of Liquid Dreams”. A lot of Dali’s inspirations come from landscapes. This evidenced greatly in the following piece. The odd, large golden shaped object is his interpretation of the rocks he once saw in Costa Brava in Spain where he lived all his life. There was something about the rocks that had an abstract feel to them and Dali brought his own unique interpretation of these in his paintings. The way this is composed I immediately see it as an illusion. In the centre of the piece where there is a gap in the rock and a floating piece of bread, I can see it being eyes. The figures also create a nose and mouth whilst the floating black rock looks to be a tilted French hat. Not only does Dali paint from his imagination and dreams but he also dreams from memories and hidden thoughts. I have come across a rather interesting meaning behind this and that is in fact based on Dali’s sexual sensibilities. When studying this I begin to understand the point that’s been put across. The holes in the rock, including the one with a nude male standing beneath, are supposedly symbols of female private parts and the suggestion of penetration. Also, I see the nude man standing beneath the hole in the rock as an entrance to the female body. The couple in the centre also look romantically intimate as their bodies are pressed up close to one another. The lady looks to be elegant and divine. Her appearance is puzzled that then makes the body the main attraction.

On the right, a woman’s hides her face in humiliation or disgust as she hides her face whilst pouring water into the basin onto the man’s foot. This could refer to signs of disgust or jealousy. There are also chest of drawers in the top right which makes me think that there is some sort of meaning behind them which I have yet to seek out. I feel this simply because I have repeatedly seen the same object appear in other artworks of his such as “The City of Drawers”.
I see a great deal of movement with a range of deep and bright colours bouncing off each other. I feel these colours are important as they show a mixture of emotions.

This painting could inspire me greatly in the future as Dali has put his deep thoughts and emotions into it meaning his mind has become his artwork. There is also a lot going on in just one painting which I find to be a great challenge to question upon.