The Lugubrious Game
Encyclopedia
The Lugubrious Game is a part oil painting and part collage on cardboard artwork created by Salvador Dali
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....

 in 1929. It displays references to feces
Feces
Feces, faeces, or fæces is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus or cloaca during defecation.-Etymology:...

 (in the form of a man wearing soiled underpants), sexual desire, castration
Castration
Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testicles or a female loses the functions of the ovaries.-Humans:...

 and alludes to the "safety" of masturbation
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...

. The name of the painting was given by poet, Paul Éluard
Paul Éluard
Paul Éluard, born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel , was a French poet who was one of the founders of the surrealist movement.-Biography:...

.

History

In 1929, several Surrealists including Paul Éluard
Paul Éluard
Paul Éluard, born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel , was a French poet who was one of the founders of the surrealist movement.-Biography:...

 and his wife Gala
Gala Dalí
Gala Dalí , usually known simply as Gala, was the wife of first Paul Éluard, then Salvador Dalí, and an inspiration for them and many other writers and artists.- Early years :...

 were visiting Dali at his home in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

. Upon seeing the Surrealist style painting, they were intrigued by it which led to Dali‘s
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....

becoming an official member of the movement.

The painting alludes to the specious relationship of specialisation and disintegration. Like many of Dali's works it is an ironic composition. Lugubrious Game alludes to the divine game of chess which is found to be crumbling on Earth. As we have more and more we soon find we have less and less. Dali's use of faeces is a textural rendering of this ironic point. It is also an exploding self-portrait and Dali, as the artist, conceives his world and the world around him falling apart. His work is endemic of the fall which remains a consistent theme of Dali's work.
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