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Warrior
Salvador Dali • Painting, 1982, 99×100 cm
Description of the artwork «Warrior»
"Warrior" (or "Warrior's head") became one of the last works of Salvador Dali. It is written according to sculptural portrait of Lorenzo Di Medici, which was performed by Michelangelo.
Close-up face occupies almost the entire space of the canvas. The head is in a helmet, the mouth is covered with bent fingers, from the eye sockets the same face looks at the viewer, reduced and reflected twice (the artist spent a lot of time reproducing it). The brow ridges are supported by spears, and one of the nostrils is supported by a crutch.
The warrior has the senseless look of a madman. The left side of the canvas is a pile of small details. A tree grows from the helmet, whose crown is lost in a dense swirling cloud. A soft clock hangs from the base of the shoot.
A group of cypress trees is depicted next to the head, and a freestanding tree in the background resembles a candle. All these are trees and clocks - symbols of the passage of time. The character in the picture does not feel it. No helmet, no spears, no crutch matter.
The warrior remains the reaper of death regardless of age. Perhaps this is a soldier, distraught with the endless series of murders, deaths and horrors that he saw in the carnage called war. Roman legionary or Viking, crusader, cuirassier, hussar, private infantryman or military leader, blindly striving for victory at any cost - his face is a collective image.
It seems that the character of the picture simply crossed the fine line separating madness and common sense. Indeed, despite the fact that in the pupils we see the reflection of a person, they still resemble the deep dark wells of human consciousness, where cruelty, thirst for greatness and hatred are hidden. And won't these eyes turn into loopholes of an impregnable fortress, from where ruthless hands are aimed, ready at any moment to hit the enemy with a bow or crossbow, pour boiling resin over him?
Time goes on as usual, and people continue to destroy each other. The time of death - the subjective time counted by Dali's "soft" hours - can come at any moment. The warrior carries it with him.
Close-up face occupies almost the entire space of the canvas. The head is in a helmet, the mouth is covered with bent fingers, from the eye sockets the same face looks at the viewer, reduced and reflected twice (the artist spent a lot of time reproducing it). The brow ridges are supported by spears, and one of the nostrils is supported by a crutch.
The warrior has the senseless look of a madman. The left side of the canvas is a pile of small details. A tree grows from the helmet, whose crown is lost in a dense swirling cloud. A soft clock hangs from the base of the shoot.
A group of cypress trees is depicted next to the head, and a freestanding tree in the background resembles a candle. All these are trees and clocks - symbols of the passage of time. The character in the picture does not feel it. No helmet, no spears, no crutch matter.
The warrior remains the reaper of death regardless of age. Perhaps this is a soldier, distraught with the endless series of murders, deaths and horrors that he saw in the carnage called war. Roman legionary or Viking, crusader, cuirassier, hussar, private infantryman or military leader, blindly striving for victory at any cost - his face is a collective image.
It seems that the character of the picture simply crossed the fine line separating madness and common sense. Indeed, despite the fact that in the pupils we see the reflection of a person, they still resemble the deep dark wells of human consciousness, where cruelty, thirst for greatness and hatred are hidden. And won't these eyes turn into loopholes of an impregnable fortress, from where ruthless hands are aimed, ready at any moment to hit the enemy with a bow or crossbow, pour boiling resin over him?
Time goes on as usual, and people continue to destroy each other. The time of death - the subjective time counted by Dali's "soft" hours - can come at any moment. The warrior carries it with him.
