Paper Summary:

This paper looks at how Salvador Dali went through several evolutions in his painting career from Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism and Classicism in his painting. The author points out that Dali's entire life was a journey towards perfectionism as an artist, which was attained through his technique of the Paranoiac Critical Method, a psychological paradigm through which Dali was able to instill paranoia in himself and use his visions in his painting. The paper describes three paintings: "The Great Masturbator" (1929), "The Invisible Man" (1929-1931) and "Slave Market with Disappearing Head of Voltaire" (1940) .

From the Paper:

"This precision is used in "The Great Masturbator" (1929). Part of the revulsion and fear mentioned above lies in sex and the power of the sexual partner to dominate, castrate and kill. "The Great Masturbator" is an example of this. Inspired by his father's books on venereal diseases, the grasshopper over the mouth of the artist represents revulsion and impotence. Impotence, castration and masturbation are the subjects of obsession in this painting. The head of the artist metamorphoses into the body of a woman whose oblivious pleasure indicates sexual self-stimulation and fantasy. The man however remains limp, impervious to the pleasure experienced by the woman. Her presence, coupled with that of the grasshopper, indicates that the artist feels that the only sexual safety is in masturbation."

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