St. George and the Dragon
Artist
Salvador Dalí
(Spanish, 1904 - 1989)
Date1946
MediumEtching
DimensionsPlate: 17 5/8 × 11 1/4 inches (44.77 × 28.58 cm)
Sheet: 22 3/4 × 15 5/16 inches (57.79 × 38.89 cm)
Sheet: 22 3/4 × 15 5/16 inches (57.79 × 38.89 cm)
Credit LineGift of Leona E. Prasse in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph M. Coe
Object number63-54/1
On View
Not on viewCollections
Gallery LabelAccording to legend, St. George served in the army of Roman Emperor Diocletian and was executed on April 23, 303. His crime: refusing to persecute Christians and proclaiming himself one of them. In his most famous act of heroism, St. George killed the dragon that prevented a city’s residents from drawing water at the nearby spring.
Surrealist artist, Salvador Dalí, was raised in a devout Catholic home and returned to his faith in later life. In this etching, made shortly after the end of World War II, he symbolically portrays evil conquered by good. St. George, mounted on his muscular, rearing steed, thrusts his lance deep into the coiling dragon. The scattered skull and bones of the dragon’s previous victims lie underfoot.
Copyright© Salvador Dalí, Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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