Which 1946 Salvador Dalí painting depicts Saint Anthony facing temptations led by a horse and elephants?

Salvador Dalí’s 1946 painting depicting Saint Anthony facing temptations led by a horse and elephants is The Temptation of Saint Anthony.

The painting shows Saint Anthony kneeling and holding a cross while a procession of fantastic animals approaches him. The animals carry symbolic temptations, including wealth, power, and sensual pleasure. Their impossibly long, thin legs create a sense of instability and supernatural tension.

Dalí made the work for a competition organized in connection with the film The Private Affairs of Bel Ami. Although it did not win, the painting became one of his best-known religious and symbolic compositions.

The subject comes from the Christian tradition of Saint Anthony the Great, who was said to have resisted demonic temptations in the desert. Dalí’s version combines that religious story with his distinctive dream imagery and classical draftsmanship. It is held by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels.