What name did Salvador Dalí give his 1930s paranoiac-critical method of creating art?

Salvador Dalí called his 1930s method of creating art the paranoiac-critical method.

Dalí developed the method as a way to access and represent multiple images within a single visual arrangement. He described it as a self-induced paranoid state that could produce deliberate interpretations of ambiguous forms. The method connected Surrealist ideas about the unconscious with an unusually controlled pictorial technique.

In practice, Dalí used visual ambiguity so that one configuration could suggest several subjects. A landscape, figure or object might appear to transform into another image when viewed differently. This approach is visible in works such as Metamorphosis of Narcissus and The Endless Enigma.

The method should not be confused with automatic drawing or automatic writing, which emphasize spontaneous production with less conscious control. Dalí’s approach was distinctive because it combined irrational associations with meticulous, highly finished painting.