Salvador Dali

The Deer Seeing Itself in Water is a stunning work from Salvador Dalí’s The Bestiary of La Fontaine Dalinisé, a series created in 1974 that reinterprets the classic fables of Jean de La Fontaine through Dalí’s surrealist lens. This collection brings to life La Fontaine’s timeless allegories, infusing them with Dalí’s dreamlike imagery and symbolic complexity.

In The Deer Seeing Itself in Water, Dalí reimagines the fable’s moral lesson about vanity and misplaced values. The artwork features Dalí’s signature fluidity, with the deer’s delicate form and the reflective water rendered in a style that blurs reality and fantasy. The composition often highlights themes of self-reflection and illusion, with a surreal twist that invites viewers to question perception and identity.

Created as a limited-edition suite of prints, The Bestiary of La Fontaine Dalinisé demonstrates Dalí’s fascination with mythology, nature, and the subconscious. The deer, gazing at its reflection, becomes not just a figure of beauty and pride but a symbol of existential longing, transformed by Dalí’s unique visual language.

Today, The Deer Seeing Itself in Water stands as a captivating piece within the larger Bestiary series, reflecting Dalí’s ability to infuse classic literature with modern surrealism. It remains highly sought after by collectors and art enthusiasts alike, bridging the worlds of 17th-century French fables and 20th-century avant-garde art.