It's not my favorite Dali piece, a little too conventional in the presentation, but it's still interesting. It makes me think of a fantasy film more than it does a Greek tragedy. And that's a bit if a problem if you ask me. The farther we get from the original source of inspiration, the harder it will likely be to convey the same lesson or sentiment.

This story is a perfect example, in that the tragedy of Narcissus is one of desire for that which can never be attained despite ample substitutes available to satisfy desire. In the modern sense, we've completely twisted the meaning of Narcissism to denote one who is so enamored with the self as to be egotistical with regard to anything else, such that all other options are unpalatable. It's a totally different connotation.

This isn't one-off phenomenon though. Our modern use of the term 'Oedipus Complex' wherein a child has sexual desire for a parent, is a complete reversal of the original tragedy. Oedipus did sleep with his biological mother, but he didn't know she was his mother until later, and when he found out, it didn't end well.

So yeah, I think the world of Dali and his imagination, but modern interpretations like this tend to diminish the original intent of the classic tales, in that the moral of the story is lost in the grand spectacle of the thing, in my opinion anyway. A modern analogy is the fact that video games are getting more violent but not teaching anyone the value of a society which adheres to nonviolence as a sound measure for a unified society, despite how horrific are the consequences of violence.

On a different note, I think short little writeups like these could be useful as teaching resources for schools that are cutting funding for arts education. What's more, kids today have shorter attention spans so the more concise the art primer, the better. That's my two cents at least.