The Gender Metamorphosis of Narcissus. Salvador Dalí: Metamorphosis of Narcissus

This contribution is devoted to an interpretation of the artwork, from a gender point of view, Metamorphosis of Narcissus by Salvador Dalí. Dalí’s painting is compared with the Narcissus stories to be found in antiquity, particularly in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, with his stress on the beauty of a young boy, and the commensurate concepts of seeing and mirroring. The gender associations of narcissism and their changes are well-documented in the history of art (Caravaggio, Edward Burne-Jones) and in differ-ent concepts of narcissism (Sigmund Freud, Gaston Bachelard, Lou Andreas-Salomé, Julia Kristeva). The author focuses on the gender aspects of surrealism, keying in especially to the concept of Anima and Animus (Carl Gustav Jung). Dalí’s work is analyzed in terms of associating Narcissus not merely with seeing and mirroring but also with touching and metamorphosis, emphasizing his remarkable skill at transgressing gender divisions in his visionary leap towards androgyny.