The Grasshopper Child

by Salvador Dalí

Artist Salvador Dalí (Spanien, 1904 - 1989)

Alternate Title

Gräshoppsbarnet

Date1933

MediumEtsning

DimensionsBildmått: 36,8 × 30 cm Pappersmått: 63 × 48 cm Passepartout: 70 × 57 cm

ClassificationGraphic art

Credit LinePurchase 1938

Countries

Spain

On view

Stockholm

RoomGallery 01:6

Object NumberNMG 232/1938

About the artworkSalvador Dalí endeavoured to depict what would otherwise mostly appear in dreams or take place in our subconscious; what our rational mind tends to censor and screen out. Dalí’s dream images often reflect childhood fears of various phenomena. Ants and other insects made him feel unsettled. In an essay, Dalí described his phobic relationship with the locusts that often appear in his art. In the etching, we see two figures that seem to be in an ongoing metamorphosis of sorts, between man and insect. They merge with the upward movement of the table, out towards the horizon. The naked man appears to shape or direct the movement of the table with his hands. Similar motifs in Dalí’s work have been interpreted in relation to Sigmund Freud’s theories of castration and fetishism – the little child’s horror at the mother’s lack of a phallus.
Selected exhibition history Efter Babel (den 13 juni 2015 - den 30 augusti 2015) Moderna Museet, Stockholm Den underjordiska himlen. Surrealism i Moderna Museets samling Moderna Museet, Stockholm Surrealism, samlingen (den 19 oktober 2024 - den 18 januari 2026) Moderna Museet, Stockholm The Moderna Museet exhibition catalogues Efter Babel : Poesin kommer att göras av alla! 89plus : [Moderna Museet 13.6-30.8.2015]

Works by the artist