Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Waking is not a long enough title, in my opinion. 

Salvador Dali wastes no time telling you everything that’s happening in the painting. A woman is sleeping on some rocks and she’s being surrounded by some animals and fruits, and a rifle is pointed right at her. She should wake up any second. Rough sketch, but you get it.

What Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee doesn’t tell you in its title is that the sleeping woman is Gala, Dali's wife and muse. It wouldn’t be the first time Dali immortalized his beloved in art. There are hundreds of drawings and paintings of his Gala. Gala was an intense presence in the Surrealist movement. She made a huge impact on Dali, who not only incorporated her into his art, but would sometimes sign his artworks “Gala Salvador Dali.” It's refreshing to see a woman finally get some credit!

Dali was ten years younger than Gala. He was madly in love with her, along with a number of men, including those from the Surrealist group. Gala drew in many lovers, and while she was married to Dali (and the French poet Paul Eluard before him), she kept her sidepieces.

There were those who didn’t see the light oozing from Gala the way Dali did. Dali’s father and sister hated Gala, and his sister had an all-out epic feud with Gala that lasted until death. But Dali, well, Dali was in love. 

The title Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Waking doesn’t tell you that Dali looked to Bernini’s Elephant and Obelisk statue in Rome to fashion his own version in the painting’s background. Dali distorted the image and gave this elephant legs longer than a giraffe. Dali claimed the fish represented masculine potency, the rifle with the bayonet attached is the penis,  and the pomegranate feminine fecundity and fertility.

Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee is clearly influenced by Sigmund Freud. Freud made an impression on Dali when the artist was a youngster in a Madrid art school. Freud’s work on dreams and the subconscious had a resounding impact on the young Dali, who called this moment “one of the capital discoveries of my life.” Dali, and many other Surrealists, had an obsession with Freud...and Freud thought the Surrealists were fools after a bad encounter with Andre Breton. Dali tried and tried to set up a meeting with Freud, eventually succeeding in 1938. It didn't go very well. Freud said, somewhat xenophobically, of the young artist, "I have never seen a more complete example of a Spaniard. What a fanatic!” Never meet your heroes, kids.