Debris of an Automobile Giving Birth to a Blind Horse Biting a Telephone

This is a painting by Salvador Dali, a surrealist artist who is prominent in the history of art. This particular painting caught my eye not only because of the odd combination of objects (blind horse, telephone, radiator, and car wheel) but also because of the paint that was used. It had a metallic finish that shone and made this paining unique, the texture of the paint also caught my eye as it added real depth to the painting contrary to perceived depth, something an image from Google could do no justice. The shallow message that came to my naive mind was that this painting was showing the transformation of transport, from horse and carriages to automobile. That might explain the horse that appears to have a wheel for one of the fore legs and it also might explain the use of metallic paint, but what's left out are the truly intriguing symbols. Why is the horse painted with no eyes? Why does it hold a black telephone in its mouth? Why add a light bulb to the center of the painting? and Why would a radiator be important and an integral part of this message? And what I have just described is only  the description of the foreground ( the only part that I noticed). As I continued to stare at this puzzling, incomprehensible image in front of my eyes I noticed that the background contained other figures as well. It contained a scene of a farm in which stood a farmer and what looks to me like a centaur. This completely baffled me, why include a modern topic of automobiles (modern at those times) and contrast that by adding a background of a rural under developed area and a creature from Greek mythology.

In an effort to gain more context and the reason behind the painting I decided to do research on the painting. Not being one of his most famous works there was not much to be said about this painting by anyone, be it a commoner or an "elitist". Although I did find the reason behind the painting. Dali was not a big fan of Pablo Picasso's paintings and he did not hide this fact, this painting is a "riposte" (or in the English I know--An attack intended to hurt an opponent) against Picasso's famous painting Guernica. Guernica is known to be a famous symbol of peace as it showed the absolute destruction of the Spanish Civil War and alerted the rest of the world of the Spanish people's plight. It is not in my ability to understand this painting, at least not yet. Hopefully I will come to understand this painting albeit vaguely, an understanding that excludes the views of others who have had the chance to acquaint themselves with this painting long enough for them to come to terms with it.