Salvador Dali: The Phoenix
The Phoenix has been a recurring symbol since classical authors like Ovid, Herodotus, and Pliny the Elder wrote of it. According to legend, there was only ever one Phoenix, who lived five hundred years before building itself a funeral pyre and burning itself to ashes. From the ashes, the Phoenix would always resurrect. Christians adopted the Phoenix as a metaphor for Christ's resurrection, and it was an especially important symbol for the alchemists.
The Philosopher's Stone itself, the goal of alchemy, is sometimes described as a Phoenix because the Stone is notoriously deep red and also undergoes a transmutation through fire. Renewal and resurrection are two fundamental concepts in alchemy, making the Phoenix's importance clear. Some alchemical images use different birds to represent the four main stages of the alchemical process, with the Phoenix representing the final stage: the resurrection of the stone.
Dalí represents the Phoenix as a headless female human, whose nude body is engulfed in flames. At the woman's neck, a window/opening reveals another plane with the head of an exotic bird. The bird's head aligns with the woman's body, creating one figure. At the bottom of the print, covering the woman's groin, is another window revealing a scene. A faceless nude male stands contrapposto and points to the sky like a philosopher. An orange semiprecious jewel is afixed to the print above his head, seemingly hovering over the man. Behind him is a hilly landscape with a palm tree and a figure riding a unicorn. The figure has a long-stemmed rose sprouting from its head. Considering the nudity and the pose of the central man in the window, he is likely a representation of the Philosophical Adam, or Alchemical Adam. In alchemy, Adam is considered the first alchemist and the original philosopher. According to legend, the secrets of the Philosopher's Stone were revealed to Adam by God in the Garden of Eden, and after his expulsion he spread the knowledge to a select few. Some alchemists claimed that there was an alchemical treatise written by Adam himself.
