The temptation of St Anthony

Salvador Dalí painted this dramatic scene in 1946 for a competition connected to a Hollywood film about temptation. He did not win, but the result became one of his most memorable images. The subject comes from an old legend about Saint Anthony, a hermit who lived alone in the Egyptian desert and was said to be tested by strange visions. Dalí places him on the left, naked and kneeling in the sand, thrusting up a small cross to hold back the bizarre procession bearing down on him.

The parade itself is what grabs your attention. A rearing white horse leads the way as a symbol of raw power and desire, followed by elephants carrying loads of temptation on their backs, from a golden cup to a woman standing in a tower and a grand palace hinting at riches. Each animal balances on absurdly long, insect-thin legs, a trick Dalí used often to make massive creatures feel weightless and unreal, like something glimpsed in a dream that could topple over at any second.

As a leading voice of Surrealism, Dalí was fascinated by dreams and hidden fears, and he mixed those ideas with meticulous, almost photographic detail. The glowing desert horizon and the enormous clouds rolling behind the figures show off his technical skill. At its heart the painting poses a question that still lands today: how do we say no to the things that pull at us, especially when they arrive dressed in beauty and gold?