Salvador created this painting to pay homage to his late brother. His brother had died at the age of three after suffering from an infectious stomach inflammation. As a result, Salvador’s parents had named him after his dead brother in a bid fill the void his death had caused. Although his brother was dead, he remained a constant fixture in Salvador’s life; one that he did not like. Dali confessed that each day, he struggled to kill the image of his dead brother. It caused him to develop an eccentric behaviour to prove he was different and adapt different names for himself and his dead brother, i.e., Castor and Pollux. It only relieved him a little until he decided to paint the Portrait of my Dead Brother.

He brings out a somewhat unusual expression in this painting. A face emerges from a spray of light and dark cherries falling from heaven to resemble printing dots associated with pop art and newspapers. Dali provided a brief description of this portrait when it was first displayed. He explained that he used dark cherries to create the countenance of his dead brother and the sun-lighted cherries to depict an image of living Salvador. As such, the face not only portrayed his dead brother but was a composite of both brothers signified by the use of dark and light cherries in the painting. The soldiers holding spears at the bottom of the painting are helping Dali scatter the visage of the former Salvador.