The artwork titled “Premonition of Civil War” is a creation of Salvador Dali, completed in 1936. As a medium, Dali employed charcoal on paper, producing a piece that measures 105 x 80 cm. This work is classified within the Surrealism movement and characterized as an allegorical painting. It is permeated with the typical dream-like, fantastical imagery that Salvador Dali is renowned for.
The artwork presents a deeply unsettling and distorted figure that appears to be self-destructive in nature—a dismembered entity seemingly tearing itself apart. The central form suggests an anthropomorphic creature, composed of fragmented body parts fused in an improbable manner, which invokes a sense of chaos and disarray. The elongated limbs, exaggerated musculature, and torsion in the figure’s posture contribute to an overall feeling of tension and violence. Amorphous shapes and disintegrated elements are scattered beneath the body, reinforcing the sense of disintegration and turmoil.
The background behind the figure is relatively subdued, offering a stark contrast to the highly detailed and dramatic foreground. The desolate landscape in the background further accentuates the sense of isolation and despair conveyed by the central figure. Dali’s use of shading and meticulous detail in the figure’s flesh and the surrounding debris crafts an unsettling atmosphere of foreboding, hinting at the internal conflict and the socio-political turbulence that inspired this work.
