Salvador Dali was an artist born on May 11, 1904 in Figueres, Spain. From an early age, he was encouraged to pursue art. He has worked with artists like Picasso, Magritte, and Miró. In 1922, he studied at the School of Fine Arts in Madrid. Although he was expelled in 1926, Dalí's painting skills were prominent. During his life, he was affected greatly by two wars, The Spanish Civil War and World War II. Dalí had his work developed long before World War II. However, during WWII, his work changed dramatically towards a more social and political context. In 1940, he painted "The Face of War." The painting shows a corpse's face with more faces in its eyes and mouth. The faces show infinite death, misery and sadness that come with war. Dalí wanted to show the realization of war and how it affects everyone. Salvador Dalí effectively convinces his audience that war leads to infinite fatalities and hardship through the use of symbolism, color, and pathos. .
The intended audience for this painting is everyone. It shows what living through a war is like. Since the end of the Spanish Civil War and World War II commenced simultaneously, it gave the entire globe the appearance of war. Salvador Dalí portrays the misery that's accompanied with war in this painting. With the use of symbolism, the faces in the paintings show decay, death, and misery. The expression on the main face of the painting shows fear. It shows that fear comes hand in hand with war. The repetition of decaying faces show that war leads to death and decay. The face is in an empty desert and it looks as if the faces are desperate for some sort of relief. When you look at the painting, you can almost feel what the main face is feeling. This idea comes from emotional cognation. It's the tendency to express and feel emotions that are similar to and influenced by those of others (Hatfield 52, 79). The painting itself shows the hardship of what living through a war is like.