95 cm × 141 cm (37 in × 56 in)
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
The Enigma of Hitler is a painting by Salvador Dalí created in 1939,[1] one of several he produced from 1937 “celebrating” the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, thus alienating himself from his fellow Surrealists.[2]
The art critic Jonathan Jones has described The Enigma as “a ghostly farewell to the 1930s”. Hitler’s invasion of Poland had brought an end to the years of appeasement; the melting telephone, its cord cut, suspended over an image of the Führer, symbolises the breakdown in communication between the European powers. The few dry beans beside Hitler’s image on the plate reflect the barren diplomacy, and the dread of waiting for war. The almost transparent umbrella hanging from the broken branch may represent the then British prime minister Neville Chamberlain who,[3] following the signing of the 1938 Munich Agreement with Germany, famously announced that it represented “Peace for our time”.
The painting is held in the collection of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, in Madrid, to which it was bequeathed in 1990.[1]