The Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali painted “The First Days of Spring” oil and collage on panel, measuring 19.5 inches × 25.2 inches in 1929 which is considered as the most famous example of his early work. The canvas presents many of the Freudian symbols and irrational details that characterise the artist’s surrealist phase.

According to Freud, the foundation of people’s fears, desires and neuroses can be found in their early life experiences. In the artwork, Dali places a photo of himself as a child in the centre suggesting that various images in the painting are related to his own childhood memories. He famously referred to “The First Days of Spring” as a ‘veritable erotic delirium’ saying that he wants to create plenty of shocking images which are painted with astonishingly accurate details. It is displayed at the Salvador Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida. n — M.I.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, August 9th, 2015

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