Dalí's Autumn of Cannibalism

Autumn Cannibalism

"The approach of the great armed cannibalism of our history, that of our coming Civil War" - these are the words Dalí used to describe the imminent Spanish Civil war after his close encounter in Barcelona. He and his wife, Gala, travelled there in October 1934 so that he could deliver a lecture. Finding themselves in the midst of a general strike and an armed uprising by Catalan separatists, the pair were forced to flee immediately. Although they managed to return safely to Paris, Dalí was aware that their escape had been a narrow one: the chauffer who had conveyed them to the frontier was killed on his return to Barcelona.

In July 1936, Dalí painted his greatest masterpiece (in my opinion, of course) - Autumn Cannibalism. This oil on canvas conceptualises the Spanish Civil War as a couple locked in a deadly embrace of mutual cannibalism.

Dalí once noted that, "Nothing is closer to an embrace than a death grapple." Lovemaking, eating, violence and death - all were inextricably intertwined in Dalí's mind - this painting depicts the Spanish Civil War as a manifestation of all these forces.

As Guns and Roses remark in their 7 minute and 42 second classic Civil War, "What's so civil about war?" Just look at the Bosnian tragedy.