Salvador Dali Sting Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate, A Second Before Awakening, c.1944

"Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee" was painted, using oil on canvas, in 1944, while Dali and Gala were living in America. The full title explains the subject and content of the painting, which was taken from a dream that Gala reported to Dali. He announced that this painting was the first illustration of Freud's discovery, that external stimuli could be the cause of a dream. The catalyst for the dream, which is the pomegranate, hangs in the air with the bee flying toward it. Behind the pomegranate Gala's dream unfolds over a sea of brilliant blue. A naked Gala lies asleep as she hovers over a stone; an illusion to the common floating feeling that can occur in dreams. To the left of Gala is a huge pomegranate that spills seeds on to the sea below. Out of the pmegranate an angry, pink fish is emerging with a wide open mouth. A snarling tiger leaps out of the fish. From this tiger another emerges, its tail in the mouth of the previous one. The tigers are rushing toward Gala, their claws at the ready, but, it is the bayonet, mirroring the sting of the bee, that will wake her. **NOTE** The bottom of this print is titled with this piece's alternative title: "Sting Caused by the Flight of a Bee."