Hitler Masturbating, 1973 by Salvador Dali

The title and the content of the work suggest a sort of self-parody, which makes sense considering the late period in Dali's life during which the painting created. Though Dali generally worked in oil, Hitler Masturbating is a watercolor. Given the looser nature of the medium, it was likely executed more quickly than the majority of Dali's canon. It also represents a departure from the fabricated automatism of Dali's meticulous photorealism.

The brushstrokes are looser and the landscape more impressionistic. The painting depicts exactly what the title suggests; the dictator, in full Nazi uniform, sits in an armchair, his back to the viewer amidst a barren snowscape. His chair appears to morph into a group of horses, the hooves of which still bear resemblance to the chair. The image evokes Dali's 1942 watercolor Sheep, in which a herd of sheep have their hooves inexplicably replaced by gilded furniture legs. The transformation from chair to horse evokes the journey of the retired soldier, once on horseback, now on plaid. It could be argued that the painting is an attempt on Dali's part to humanize Hitler. By depicting him from behind, Dali renders him anonymous, simply a figure engaged in an intensely private yet ubiquitous act. Given Dali's sense of humor, however, the painting is more likely a dirty joke on Dali's part. As Hitler masturbates, he looks upon a barren wasteland, an emptiness that resembles the destruction of Europe by his own hand.