Monstrous bodies: Theatrical designs by Salvador Dali and Leonor Fini

Theatrical design is an under-researched area of Surrealist visual culture. This essay examines two examples of Surrealist set and costume design, created by Salvador Dali and Leonor Fini respectively, through the concept of the monstrous body. Here, ‘monstrous’ refers to the ambiguous body that defies conventional categories. By using the monstrous body to interpret their designs, this essay will yield a deeper insight into these artists engagement with the Surrealist challenge to rational conventions of individualism. It will also evidence their own interests in fluid, metamorphic bodies that blur boundaries of the normative human and the ‘Other’.