Ballerine en tête de mort 1932

Salvador Dalí painted this unnerving image of a ballerina emerging from a skull, sometime around 1939, with oil on board. Look at the slightly sickly yellow and cream tones of the skull, like old bone, against the infinite darkness of the background. The artist has used delicate brushwork to define the forms, building up the image from thin glazes of paint. Notice that little question mark next to the date! Dalí's painterly touch is visible everywhere, with subtle gradations and soft transitions that give the image its ghostly, dreamlike quality. The texture is smooth, almost slick, enhancing the surreal effect. The row of teeth at the bottom of the skull become the tutu of the dancer, a striking transformation that encapsulates the Freudian themes so beloved of the surrealists. It reminds me a little of the work of Max Ernst, who was similarly engaged with themes of death and the uncanny, and making art with oil paint and wood panel. But where Ernst created collages of found imagery, here Dalí paints the disturbing transformations of his imagination. Ultimately, it’s a painting which invites us to consider the ever-changing nature of our perceptions.