Birdman

The theme of the birdman comes from antiquity.  In ancient Egypt he appeared as Horus, a God with a man’s body and the head of a heron. Dalí combines two incongruous parts substituting the head of a human figure with the head of a heron, making the human half bird and the bird half-human.  One cannot distinguish which of the two is dominant.  Man is not always that which he appears, Dalí wants to leave us in doubt, it is his game. The smooth polished surface of the sculpture’s body is contrasted by the naturally unworked beak and head.  From one arm dangles a length of a cloth, and another piece seems to be swept back from his head by a breeze depicting the need for modern accouterments.  On the back of the figure, Dalí has molded further unexplained draperies emphasizing modern man’s dependence on material possessions.