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Salvador Dalí is an icon of Surrealism, creating some of the most recognizable artworks of all time. Working off psychoanalytic ideas, Dalí rendered hallucinatory characters in fantastic dreamscapes. He described his art as ‘hand-painted dream photographs,’ and had certain preferred and recurring
images, such as the human figure with half-open drawers protruding from it, burning giraffes, and watches bent and flowing as if made from melting wax.
Dalí’s representation of Madonna pays homage to the many images of her painted by Italian Renaissance master Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio). Dalí sets his Madonna with the guardian angel of Florence and a small child adoring her in the background. One of the titles given to her is "The Mystical Rose," an image of mystical rather than physical beauty.