Theme by Peter Vidani
Email the Curator
Submit Some Art
Ask a Question
Sunday Dalí: Soft Construction With Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War), 1936. Oil on canvas. 39 5/16 x 39 3/8 in. The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950. Now resides in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In my mind, this is on the short list of Dalí’s true masterpieces. (It is hard to make a short list.) Dalí was clearly deeply moved by the inevitable Civil War that was about to tear apart his country. The limbs of the figure symbolize the dismembered political state that Spain was in. One hand grasps up to pull down the breast while the leg and foot push itself down. Again, the piece of meat on the right signifies death. The man in the bottom left is the manifestation of one of Dalí’s muses. The beans remain an enigma.

Sunday Dalí: Soft Construction With Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War), 1936. Oil on canvas. 39 5/16 x 39 3/8 in. The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950. Now resides in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

In my mind, this is on the short list of Dalí’s true masterpieces. (It is hard to make a short list.)

Dalí was clearly deeply moved by the inevitable Civil War that was about to tear apart his country. The limbs of the figure symbolize the dismembered political state that Spain was in. One hand grasps up to pull down the breast while the leg and foot push itself down. Again, the piece of meat on the right signifies death. The man in the bottom left is the manifestation of one of Dalí’s muses. The beans remain an enigma.