Salvidor Dali- Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bumblebee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening

This painting by Spanish painter Salvidor Dali is titled, "Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bumblebee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening". It is of the surrealist style of its absurd, dreamlike, almost hallucinogenic look and brilliant use of color. Dali painted this piece in 1944, and it currently resides in Madrid, Spain at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.

The painting depicts a nude woman sleeping and dreaming about a bee flying around a pomegranate (which is pictured both literally and metaphorically). The woman is believed to be Dali's wife, Gala. The larger pomegranate on the left of the painting has a large red fish and two tigers leaping out of it. The second tiger seems to be wielding a rifle with a bayonet. The tigers and bayonet, in my opinion, are to symbolize the bee, with the tigers comprising the yellow and black striped body of the bee, and the bayonet to symbolize the stinger. There is also an interesting interpretation of an elephant wanting along the horizon line with absurdly long legs, holding some type of crystal-looking object. I really appreciate Dali's use of both literal and symbolical interpretations of reality, and his strange, dreamlike atmosphere.