Which 1936 Salvador Dalí painting is known in English as Soft Construction with Boiled Beans?

Salvador Dalí’s 1936 painting known in English as Soft Construction with Boiled Beans is Soft Construction with Boiled Beans.

The full title is Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War). It shows a distorted, monstrous body tearing itself apart, with a small pile of beans nearby. Dalí used the grotesque figure to evoke the violence and self-destruction associated with the Spanish Civil War.

Dalí completed the painting before the conflict ended, and its subtitle connects the dreamlike image to contemporary political catastrophe. The work is often discussed alongside his other images of war, including The Burning Giraffe and The Face of War.

The shorter title is frequently used in museum labels and reference works, while the subtitle is important because it identifies the historical context. It should not be confused with The Persistence of Memory, which contains melting watches and belongs to a different period.