A Psychoanalytic Study of Psychosexual Signs in Dali’s Adaptive Paintings of Dante’s Divine Comedy

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 MA in English Translation, Roudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University, Roudehen, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, ELT Department, Roudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University, Roudehen, Iran.

10.34785/J014.2022.596

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to compare Inferno in Dante’s Divine Comedy with Salvador Dali’s selected paintings. The researchers seek to find differences, similarities, reflections of Freud’s psychoanalytic theories, and analyzed the symbols and signs in Dali’s paintings. Inferno in Dante’s Divine Comedy consists of thirty-four cantos from which the current study has selected images that illustrate the differences, similarities, psychoanalytic theories of Freud, and symbols in Dali’s paintings. The research method of the present study is analytical-comparative method which has used the American school of comparative literature in analyzing the above examples. The corpuses of the current study include Dante’s Inferno and Dali’s adaptive paintings. This study addresses Inferno in that it inspired Dante in the form of dream, and it is the product of the unconscious mind. On the other hand, Dali’s Paintings have been explored because he, as a surrealist painter, portrayed the dreams and the unconscious in his works. The major finding includes the similarity between Dali’s focused on the human’s unconscious and psychosexual symbols in his paintings with Dante’s employment of the unconscious in Divine Comedy, as well as the impact of this medieval work on modern art.

Keywords

References

Alighieri, D. Divine Comedy – Inferno. 2008. Retrieved from https://wyomingcatholic.edu/wp-content/uploads/dante-01-inferno.pdf [Sep 15, 2020]
Baterbys. It’s in the Symbols: Salvador Dali. 2009. Retrieved from https://baterbys.com/its-in-the-symbols-salvador-dali/ [Nov 4, 2020]
Biography. Salvador Dalí. 2020. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/artist/salvador-dali [Jan 16, 2020]
Bokanowski, Thierry, and Sergio Lewkowicz, eds. On Freud's Splitting of the Ego in the Process of Defence. London and New York: Routledge, 2009.
Bozorg Chami, V. Generalities of Comparative Literature. Quarterly Journal of the Association, Vol. 30, 2008, 141-156.
Bressler, Ch. E. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. 5th ed. Publishing company: Longman, 2011.
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. The Divine Comedy. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Divine-Comedy [May 27, 2020]
Carroll, M. P. Catholic Cults and Devotions: A Psychological Inquiry. Montreal, Canada: McGill-Queen’s Press, 1989.
Cirlot, J. E. A Dictionary of Symbols. Taylor & Francis e-Library: London, 2001.
Dalipaintings. Salvador Dali Paintings, Biography, and Quotes. Retrieved from https://www.dalipaintings.com/persistence-of-memory.jsp [Aug 13, 2020]
Dine. T. Oneiric Hidden Symbolism of Dali. European Journal of Research and Reflection in Arts and Humanities, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2016.
Freud, S. The Interpretation of Dreams. 3rd ed. 1900. Retrieved from http://library.manipaldubai.com/DL/The_Interpretation_Of_Dreams.pdf [Sep 17, 2020]
Freud, S., & Strachey, J. The interpretation of dreams. 8th ed. New York: Avon Books, 1965.
Freudfile. Freud on Death. Retrieved from https://www.freudfile.org/psychoanalysis/papers_11.html  [January 1, 2020]
Gott, T. Salvador Dali: Liquid Desire. Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 2009. 
Graves, L. Salvador Dali: A psychological case study with an emphasis on Freud’s psychoanalytic theory (Master’s Thesis, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana), 2006. Retrieved from https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/5008927.pdf [Sep 25, 2020]
Kovary, Z. The Enigma of Desire: Salvador Dalí and the conquest of the irrational. Journal of the psychological study of the arts. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228127150_The_Enigma_of_Desire_Salvador_Dali_and_the_conquest_of_the_irrational [June 29, 2020]
Lambirth, A. The Freud Connection. 1998. Retrieved from http://www.findarticles.com/p/artcileS/mi_qa3724/is_1998111ai_n8819682/print  [March 18, 2020]
Moudarres, A. Beheading the Son: Muhammad and Bertran de Born in Inferno 28. Journal of California Italian Studies, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2014.
Nicolosi, J. What Freud Really Said About Homosexuality - And Why. Journal of Human Sexuality, Vol. 7, 2016, 24-42.
Nika, M. Do We Need Surrealism Nowadays?. European Journal of Social Sciences Education and Research, Vol. 4, 3, 2017, 38-43.
Nojoumian, A.A. Towards a New Definition of Comparative Literature and Comparative Criticism. Quarterly Journal of Literary Research, Vol. 9, No. 38, 2012.
Psychologytoday. The Freudian Symbolism in Your Dreams. 2018. Retrieved from   https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/out-the-ooze/201801/the-freudian-symbolism-in-your-dreams [January 1, 2020]
Radford, R. Dali Art and Ideas. New York, United States: Phaidon Press Ltd, 1997.
Ruse, M. Homosexuality: A Philosophical Inquiry. New York: Basil Blackwell, 1988.
Schultz, D. P., and Schultz, S. E. A History of Modern Psychology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, 2004.
Schultz, D. P., and Schultz, S. E. Theories of Personality. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning, 2005.
Shafa, Sh. Divine Comedy. Tehran: Amir Kabir, 1999.
Smith, I. Freud - Complete Works: Studies on Hysteria. 2010. Retrieved from https://www.valas.fr/IMG/pdf/Freud_Complete_Works.pdf [Aug 15, 2020]
Sorell, C., & Rubin, D. S. Life and Death in the Visions of Salvador Dalí. Park West Foundation: New York, 2017.
Tommasofagioli. Bones in Customs and Arts: A Brief Anthropology. Retrieved from http://tommasofagioli.com/ideas/anthropology-bones/ [April 6, 2020] 

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 16 May 2021
  • Revise Date: 12 December 2021
  • Accept Date: 12 January 2022

Share

How to cite

Statistics