Salvador Dali, Metamorphosis of Narcissus, 1937The human condition is suspended between the bestial and the transcendent. Dali depicts a dog snuffling in dirt, while above are shown the highest aspirations of humanity: intellect (in the form of a chess board), and beauty (in the form of a statue). Above that an almost angelic figure. The whole picture represents what we can glimpse but never understand. It is a visual signifier of the ethereal.
