Where Is Soft Construction with Boiled Beans?

Q: Why is it called Soft Construction with Boiled Beans?

Dalí scattered boiled beans throughout to represent peasant food and the absurdity of war. The "soft construction" refers to the distorted flesh of the figure.

Q: Where can I see this painting?

The painting hangs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It's one of Dalí's most politically charged works.

Q: What does this painting depict?

A monstrous figure tears itself apart, symbolizing Spain's impending civil war. Dalí painted it six months before the conflict began in 1936.

Q: How does this compare to Guernica?

Both address the Spanish Civil War, but Dalí's work came first. While Picasso responded to a specific event, Dalí claimed to have sensed the coming catastrophe.

Finished in 1936 by Salvador Dalí, horrifying image six months before the Spanish Civil War began, later subtitling it "Premonition of Civil War." A grotesque figure tears itself apart against a turbulent sky, limbs contorted in impossible positions. Scattered boiled beans appear throughout the composition.

The self-destructing body represents Spain consuming itself in fratricidal conflict. Dalí's technical precision makes the impossible anatomy disturbingly believable. The beans add an absurdist element, though Dalí claimed they represented both peasant food and the irrationality of war. The work predates Picasso's more famous Guernica response to the same conflict.

The painting resides at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a major work in their Surrealist collection.

Dalí scattered boiled beans throughout to represent peasant food and the absurdity of war. The "soft construction" refers to the distorted flesh of the figure.

The painting hangs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It's one of Dalí's most politically charged works.

A monstrous figure tears itself apart, symbolizing Spain's impending civil war. Dalí painted it six months before the conflict began in 1936.

Both address the Spanish Civil War, but Dalí's work came first. While Picasso responded to a specific event, Dalí claimed to have sensed the coming catastrophe.

Soft Construction with Boiled Beans

Details

The Artist

More by Salvador Dalí

Lobster Telephone

Metamorphosis of Narcissus

The Sacrament of the Last Supper

Related Surrealism Works

Dancers in Blue

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère

The Star (Dancer on Stage)

The Bellelli Family

Olympia

The Balcony

Guernica

Music in the Tuileries

About Soft Construction with Boiled Beans

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