The Enigma of My Desire or My Mother, My Mother, My Mother: Salvator Dalí
Corner Stone PieceThe Enigma of My Desire is one of Dalí's earliest contributions to the Surrealist movement, the first work sold during his first solo exhibition at the Goemans Gallery, and the corner stone piece of this exhibition. It depicts a Catalonian landscape with a boy and man embracing in the background. (1) In 1929 Dalí joined the surrealist movement and painted this work. The Surrealist Movement was heavily influenced by Freud; Dalí's exploration Freudian thought, his childhood and obsessions take center stage in The Enigma of My Desire. (2)
Dalí's mother died when he was 17 and his father married her sister the following year. Dalí's carried his yearning for his mother with him through out his life, and is made evident in this painting, not only through the title, but also through the repetition of "ma mère" (French for my mother) on the rock like form. (2) Freudian thought says that men desire their mothers because they are their first love and that they want to return to the womb. The rock that Dalí identifies himself with is attached to the lower left of the larger rock structure, indicative of Dalí's attachment to his mother and his identity in her. This attachment could also be indicative of a desire to be connected to his mother again, whether that be in the womb or to just be with her since she has died. Dalí's rock is covered in ants which symbolizes death and decay as well as intense sexual desire. (3) The placement of ants on Dalí's rock could be indicative of Dalí's awareness of his own mortality, especially in reference to the death of his mother. It also shows his intense desire for his mother, in line with Freudian psychoanalysis. The Freudian thought also states that since a man loves his mother he hates his father. As a child Dalí feared his father and his bad temper. (2) One can only imagine the tension between Dalí and his father after his father married his mother's sister after his mother's death. A lion's head resides above the man and boy embracing and on the upper right of the rock; its connotation is fear and aggression. This use of the lion's head could be indicative of the fear and aggression Dalí experience in his relationship with his father. The lion's head could also be symbolic of Dalí's anxiety about sex, rooted in the trauma he experienced after his father forced him to look at a book about venereal diseases. The Enigma of My Desire is a reminder of human mortality--our own and those closest to us-- encouraging us to appreciate others for the short time that we hold them in our presence. The piece reminds us of our impact on others and therefore that responsibility that we have been entrusted. It acknowledges that, good or bad, our parents are part of us; their influence is insurmountable. However, no matter how strong the influence may be, we are not our parents; we are our own, and in our search for identity we must look within. |
(1) http://www.dalipaintings.net/enigma-of-desire.jsp
(2) http://www.philamuseum.org/doc_downloads/education/ex_resources/dali.pdf
(3) http://www.washingtongreen.co.uk/news/2007/10/salvador-dali/symbolism.asp
(2) http://www.philamuseum.org/doc_downloads/education/ex_resources/dali.pdf
(3) http://www.washingtongreen.co.uk/news/2007/10/salvador-dali/symbolism.asp