He painted it just before meeting Gala. His needs in Paris by that time became his grief. It’s a self-portrait where their sexual desires and fears are reflected. By then Dalí was still a virgin. His shyness was influenced by the knowledge obtained through his father’s books of the reach of venereal diseases. Among several symbols, the following ones stand out: the grasshopper, who terrified Salvador; the head of a lion alluding repressed desires; and a flower-vessel that near the chest of the woman, hopes to be filled.
