It comes from what he termed his “Paranoic-critical” period. Inspired by Freud, Dali would induce a state of paranoia to allow his brain to create unseen links between objects. In Swans Reflecting Elephants, Dali uses double images to transfigure graceful swans into huge, land-locked animals. As in his earlier work, Metamorphosis of Narcissus, he uses water to reflect alternative realities.

Here, the trees of the Catalan landscape merge with the swans' reflections to create elephants in a technically brilliant painting. The swans are carried upon the elephants backs through the stark landscape whilst a lone figure blends into the background, his back to the scene