The Purpose of Double Image in Dali

Salvador Dali is noted for his obsession with sensory illusions and optical effects, which he uses deftly in many of his paintings. His works are notable for their use of pictorial techniques, holograms, and photography. He investigates these elements in order to create visual illusions that impair the audience's perception of reality. His use of double images is particularly prevalent in his various works in which he uses paranoid critical techniques. The purpose of the double image in Salvador Dali’s works is to enable the audience to analyze the image from multiple angles, to attribute psychoanalytic meanings to symbols, and to discredit the aspect of reality in the world so as to explore creativity.

Salvador Dali broke the conventions of art and produced novice artistic methods and languages that interfere with the psychology of human beings. In all his works, Dali succeeds in liberating human psyche and upending the rational in a method known as surrealism (Shanes 156). From his works, Dali appears almost morbid based on his addiction to death and neuroses of a sexual nature. Through this, he brings about disconnected images that unlock the unconscious creativeness of his audience. His deliberate portrayal of the abnormal in the most of normal is characteristic of surrealism. He brings out this form of surrealism in a manner that causes his audience to get into his imagination and have a sort of suspicious perception of reality.

Dali willfully distorts reality so as to discredit the way people view the reality in the world. The artist’s work is full of the paranoiac critical technique that is synonymous to a self-induced psychosis. Dali does this with the intent of bringing out extraordinary objects out of the ordinary in a sort of hallucination. Paranoiac critical is used as some form of inspiration for his audience as it makes them imagine the unimaginable. A good example of where Dali achieves this is in his 1931 picture titled ‘Le surrealisme au service de la revolution’. When viewed from one side, this picture resembles a face. In a way, there is some level of delirium in this work that causes the audience to imagine something paranormal out of the normal.

Dali’s double images create a sense of paranoia in his audience just so that they can start questioning reality. The primary material utilized by Dali to execute his work is the falsification of memory that is enhanced by his personal visionary experiences (Shanes 156). For instance, Dali had this obsession with death and most of his double images portray carcasses of animals such as donkeys. It appears that surrealism produced as paranoia is a precious lode that Dali deems worth mining. For this reason, he would like to bring his audience to a point where they question reality. This could explain why Dali projects a normal scene superimposed by one or several non-realistic forms (King 47; Matthiesson 295). A good example of this is his 1948 presentation of a man and a woman holding a baby superimposed over a man’s face. Surprisingly, there is a dog that does not seem to fit in this presentation yet Dali still included it in the photo.

Having his beliefs grounded on ideas by psychoanalytic theorists such as Sigmund Freud, it is not surprising that Dali’s main pursuit is to inspire his audience to view things from his perspective. Dali’s life was surrounded by numerous problems that prompted him to have fixation with death and pain. For instance, he was named after his dead brother and so his parents failed to acknowledge his existence. Dali’s parents thought of him as a reincarnation of his dead brother and so he felt lost in his body. His mother died when he was still very young and his father married his aunt.

Dali appears to use all this pain in his surrealism to inspire his audience so that they view things from his perspective. For instance, Dali did a painting titled ‘Sometimes I Spit with Pleasure on the Portrait of my Mother (The Sacred Heart)’. In this painting, he uses double image to tell his audience about his past and his imagination (Wallis 3). In his psychoanalytic theory, Sigmund Freud suggests that the human body holds secrets which are sometimes unearthed through the analysis of the psychological aspects of an individual. Dali held onto the teachings of Freud and believed that the only way he could tell the world about his secrets was through surrealism occurring in double image.

Dali’s double image technique is extremely necessary in helping the audience interpret one painting in a variety of ways. This way, an analyst or critique can express their opinions without the fear of being evaluated negatively. A good example of such a painting is the 1938 painting titled ‘The Endless Enigma’. Dali made this painting in a perfectly relaxed environment in terms of quietude and space, and that is why the painting is a double image (with six different images) yet up to scale. The cryptic illusionism and visual complexity in this painting illustrates the meaning of varied views and criticisms (Wallis 2).

Depending on the angle that an individual takes, ‘The Endless Enigma’ could mean a lot of things. There is a clear separation of the images into a variety of constituents; a practice that is commonly undertaken by this artist. The separation makes it possible for the audience to avoid overlapping interpretations by disentangling the images in the painting and their convoluted iconography (Wallis 2). In addition to this, the audience is in a better position to mix the segments so that they coalesce into a continuous and seamless image. The result of such an approach makes the piece of art intriguing as well as worth spending money and time.

An audience obtains the ability to analyze the psychological being of an individual if they can learn to analyze Dali’s creations. This artist took an unapologetic turn when he decided to use his experiences to give his audience a chance to understand the symbolism in his work. The numerous paintings made by Dali are full of symbols from his childhood. By using them simultaneously in an image, the audience gets an opportunity to use the psychoanalytic approach to understand him as a painter. Once an audience comprehends and makes sense of the seamless connections to the double images, they can easily analyze the psychological aspects of a human being.

Dali’s double image gives other artists an opportunity to interpret the world as an enigmatic and eccentric place without any limits. From this standpoint, other artists view themselves as brands and thus they can create anything that they feel like even if it involves the use of personal experiences. For example, Dali provided his own interpretation of ‘The Angelus of Millet’ that earned him a title as a weird person. In this painting, there is a woman and a man who appear to be partying in a field and thus it was deemed as a religious piece. However, Dali gave a weird meaning to the painting where he suggested that the woman was aggressive and that she had forced the man into a repressive sexual position. He also said that the man and woman were praying over a coffin belonging to a child. Later on, this interpretation was confirmed as true but it was quite bizarre at that point. With such interpretations, Dali makes it possible for the other artists and people to analyze art from different perspectives.

One of the major reasons why Dali would use double image effect was to affirm the fact that each individual can find their personal interpretation of a particular concept. To him, there is nothing more satisfactory and simple than giving an opinion without caring the impact of the comment or question at hand. For instance, Dali’s interpretation of various works of art landed him into trouble and he was asked to defect the surrealists groups. After he separated from the group, Dali dubbed his interpretation of various works of art as true surrealism. His belief is that artists should not be regulated using limitations and that the mind is a continuous road with numerous opportunities to make sense of the enigmatic world (Ross 108). From this approach, it is very possible to create realistic images that dig deep into the psychological analysis of a situation.

The message being spread by Dali’s double image technique is that every artist should strive to stamp their uniqueness upon the rest of the society in a way that he or she will remain known for ages. He did exactly what he wanted by following his self-created rules. In as much as he was looked down upon and made fun of, Dali appeared unperturbed because he knew what he wanted and he worked towards obtaining it (Ross 107).

Dali’s work touched on the sensitive subject of his background and thus the need for symbolism which was achieved successfully through double image. A good example of this is the painting ‘Melting Watches’ that is symbolic of the fluidity of time. In the painting ‘Swans Reflecting Elephants’, the elephants are symbolic of the distortion in space. The elephants appear weightless as they are being held by their thin legs. In reality, this is utterly impossible but symbolic of something abnormal. Perhaps this is a depiction of the distorted ways many artists view paintings. The ants in his paintings normally point to death and decay. From this standpoint, Dali uses double image to hide his feelings and psychological status in a symbolic manner. This may encourage other artists to take up the challenge from Dali and open up their hearts.

Dali went ahead and employed the same concepts in avant-garde film production and this form of interaction sort of gave life to his work. Instead of sticking in the simple imagination used in painting, he manifested his thoughts and experiences in ways that are designed to conjure a reaction (Matthiesson 295). The kind of reaction that his work evokes forces the other artists to want to duplicate the same experience. That explains why artists today are visible socially like in social media and through their work.

Dali’s work bore deep into his psychological issues through an exquisite draftsmanship that made it possible and easy for other artists to use the same approach. For instance, after the war, artists in New York placed a lot of mysteriousness and emotion to their work (Matthiesson 295). Abstract Expressionists were able to express their subconscious using surrealism. In a way, Dali shook the traditional form of art to a concept that is not only deeply symbolic but entertaining and canny. Numerous artists today combine digital art with concepts of surrealism especially in advertisements. Additionally, artists are no longer stuck in the same medium and they can go as far as exploring a variety of subjects thus making Dali’s work interesting.



Dali’s work is one to be revered as it brought about a variety of interesting views and explanations. However, it is clear that Dali’s intention of using double image was to create a scenario where the audience could analyze the image from a variety of perspectives. Double effects in any painting or work of art enable the audience to understand the two dimensions of the artist. Through this analysis, the audience is expected to confirm their confusion and lack of definite answers regarding the reality that is the world. Regardless of some of these controversies, Dali’s works are still revered as they acted as a shake-up to the traditional paintings and their approach towards people who paint.



Works Cited

William Jeffett, Dalí Doubled: From Surrealism to the Self: A new critical view of Dalí. Florida: Dalí Museum, 2010. Print.

King, Elliott. ‘Dalí after 1940,’ Salvador Dalí: The Late Work. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010. Print.

Matthiesson, Sophie. ‘Optical Experiments: Stereoscopy,’ Salvador Dalí: Liquid Desire. Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 2009. Print.

Ross, Michael E. Salvador Dali and the surrealists: Their lives and ideas. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2003. Print.

Shanes, Eric. The Life and Masterworks of Salvador Dalí. New York, Parkstone Press International, 2010. Print.

Wallis, Jonathan. Double Deceptions: Salvador Dalí’s stereoscopic paintings and the influence of Gerrit Dou, Papers of Surrealism, iss. 11, 2015, pp. 1-15.