The Temptation of St Anthony is a Surrealist painting by Salvador Dalí from 1946. The work depicts the saint's spiritual struggle against the seductions of the material world. In a desert-like, suspended landscape, St Anthony kneels with his cross raised, while a procession of magnificent and unsettling creatures advances towards him. Towering elephants with legs as thin as stilts carry monumental structures, symbols of wealth, power and desire: an obelisk, Baroque buildings, a naked figure alluding to carnal temptation.
Dalí transforms the ascetic scene into a theatre of opposing forces: the fragility of man against the immensity of imagination and desire. The contrast between the elephant, a mighty animal, and the precariousness of its legs highlights the instability of earthly goods. The painting thus becomes an allegory of inner resistance and of faith striving to free itself from the deceptions of the world and of desire.
Unique quality material
Print on handmade Amalfi paper Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in) With frame: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in) Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges Frame: light brown beech wood and wood pulp, handmade
How an Amalfi art print is made, what the frame is like, what museum glass is, how long shipping takes, and how returns work: we’ve gathered all the answers on a single page.
