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A short description and analysis of one of the most profound surreal paintings by Salvador Dali.
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7/16/2019 A Brief Analysis of Salvador Dali's "3 Sphinxes of Bikini"
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-brief-analysis-of-salvador-dalis-3-sphinxes-of-bikini 1/4
Prithvi Ramkumar
4/22/13
English 271
Description of a Surreal Painting: Final
The Three Sphinxes of Bikini
Artist: Salvador Dali
For reference, the Sphinx in the foreground I called the first Sphinx; the tree(s) I called the
second Sphinx, and the farthest Sphinx I called the third Sphinx.
7/16/2019 A Brief Analysis of Salvador Dali's "3 Sphinxes of Bikini"
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-brief-analysis-of-salvador-dalis-3-sphinxes-of-bikini 2/4
While looking for surreal paintings by Salvador Dali, I stumbled past the “Three
Sphinxes of Bikini” and was immediately captivated by the symbolism and imagery. At first
glance, the three “Sphinxes” are immediately apparent in the flat landscape. The first and third
Sphinxes look like massive human heads, protruding from the ground as if they grew from it.
The hair of these Sphinxes is smoke-colored, and can be likened to a plume of smoke, perhaps
from an explosion. The second Sphinx is clearly two trees that join at the canopy to make the
shape of a human head, very similar to the other two Sphinxes. The conjunction of two trees to
make this Sphinx differentiates it from the others, leading me to believe that this Sphinx is more
significant than the other two. Off in the distance by the third Sphinx is a small mountain range,
which seems to separate the first two Sphinxes from the third. The sky is cloudy (or smoky) and
is illuminated by a pale yellow light that dissolves into a murky-green and eventually fades to
black. The shadows of the Sphinxes indicate a larger light source coming from the right (but not
depicted), and a white light emanates from behind the “neck” of the first Sphinx. I believe these
are both explosions. The landscape is pretty bleak- without animals, devoid of color, and draped
in an eerie pale-yellow veil that perverts the imagery, giving the impression of malice that not
only pervades the painting, but the human condition as well.
After a more exhaustive look at the painting, the imagery starts to have a more profound
meaning. I see the first and third Sphinxes as mushroom clouds and human heads at the same
time. The human head to me symbolizes the ego, and the ego manifests itself as the mushroom
cloud (in the painting) which is a symbol for destruction. I think the first and third Sphinxes are
symbols for the military-industrial complex which corrupt human values by profiting from war.
The size of the heads and the orientation of all 3 Sphinxes, suggest a conformity that effervesces
to the observer who is oriented in the same direction as all 3 of the Sphinxes. Maybe a political
7/16/2019 A Brief Analysis of Salvador Dali's "3 Sphinxes of Bikini"
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-brief-analysis-of-salvador-dalis-3-sphinxes-of-bikini 3/4
critique is being made here: that the military-industrial complex is an institution that allows
people to avoid thinking. However, this could also be a more general observation that any social
structure/institution will orient people in the same direction. The second Sphinx is clearly a
symbol for nature. I think the way the two trees rise as individuals but meet together at the top is
a symbol for the way human societies should function and the broader point Dali may have been
trying to make is that nature embodies a system of morality that is ideal, and might be suggesting
a return to nature to better understand the world and what it means to be human.
One of the more complex interpretations of the painting I have is focused on the
perception of the first Sphinx. The first and third Sphinx are identical, but are separated. Though
we can’t see the “faces” of the Sphinxes, I get the impression that the first Sphinx is looking at
the other two. I also get the impression that the first Sphinx is a little more “human” than the
third. As the first Sphinx looks at the third from a detached perspective, it sees how the
destructive nature of the third Sphinx (a symbol for the atomic bomb) threatens the second
Sphinx and itself, without realizing it is the same as the third Sphinx (symbolically) and that its
existence threatens the second Sphinx as much as the third Sphinx does. I think Dali wanted the
observer to extrapolate this idea and apply it to the perception of self in the hope the observer
would realize that he or she contributes to the destruction of the world as much as the first and
third Sphinxes, though he or she probably doesn’t recognize it often, or at all.
The purpose of art is for the benefit of the observer- to affect the observer and their
perceptions. This painting is without absolute definition and meaning (as are most interesting
things in this universe) but that doesn’t stop it from affecting the observer. The meaning of this
painting to me comes from the change in perception that occurred in me while pondering it,
7/16/2019 A Brief Analysis of Salvador Dali's "3 Sphinxes of Bikini"
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-brief-analysis-of-salvador-dalis-3-sphinxes-of-bikini 4/4
therefore, it must have a different meaning to everyone, but as long as the observer is affected,
the painting accomplishes its purpose.