The artist Salvador Dali was a master painter and through this medium revealed inner dreamscape. This oil painting done in 1935 is called Echo nostalgique was inspired by his sister’s school.
The sad figure sitting inside the doorway to this strange landscape seems to be depressed. Shrouded in shadow and wholly disconnected from the activities going on in the rest of the painting. This could be Dali himself, but I have no reason to believe this other than a personal interpretation of the work.
In the mid-ground of the oil painting a young girl in a white dress running as if in play. The girl is Dali’s sister before school. The grey bell looks like a girl or woman abstracted symbolically in a dress.
The wall text does label the Oculus as an “I” symbolism or self-reference, but this is not for sure. This theme of imagery seems to be repeated on a smaller level in the bell tower with a gray ball on top for the Oculus.
Perhaps the sad figure in the entrance to the painting is Dali himself waiting for his sister to be out of school so they can spend time together.
Surrealism is a fitting genera of art that captures dreams so well. Where other kinds of art show the real external world, Surrealism captures man’s inner world and self. This inner mystery
For more works by Surrealists artists visits the Menil Museum.
My photo was taken at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts for the educational purpose of the blog.
