Sunday Dalí: Paranoiac Visage, 1931.

In the 1930’s Breton was still unsure about visual Surrealism. Until then Breton believed that Surrealism was primarily a literary movement. Dalí invented his paranoic-critical method and revealed it with this piece in the journal Le Surréalisme au Service de la Révolution. The image is a photograph of African people infront of a hut which arrived at Dalí’s house as a post card sent by Pablo Picasso. Dalí instantly recognized the double image of a “phantom head” when the postcard is turned 90º.

Just as clinical paranoia involves the obsessive reinterpretation of external phenomena, Dalí’s method also involved obsessive reinterpretation. The resulting back-and-forth between the reality of the African people and illusionary visage creates a “mental crisis” in the viewer.

Dalí reproduced this effect many times in numerous artworks. A few of these have been featured here.

Breton was convinced, but as Dalí’s popularity grew, Breton criticized Dalí, calling his work “puzzle-paintings” where the only purpose was to decipher the image. Dalí, being rich, famous, and an egomaniac, didn’t seem to notice Breton’s criticism.