The background; Dali’s choice of the sunflower was prompted by the study of its morphology. He came to think that all this conglomeration of dots, shades and curves has a...
Dali’s choice of the sunflower was prompted by the study of its morphology. He came to think that all this conglomeration of dots, shades and curves has a somewhat pensive appearance that corresponds directly to the deeply brooding personality of Leonardo da Vinci.
Indeed, the sunflower accumulates a great number of seeds and thus has a symbolic
meaning of uniting a whole array of worlds and fates. The underlying concept
“Multum im pravo” – “Much in little”. This could be the painting’s motto.
The multitude of seeds are encircled within the sunflower just like multiple forms of life are embraced by the planet on which they exist. And as the planets revolve around the sun according to the laws of gravity so the sunflower head is believed to track the movements of the sun across the sky. The seeds in the sunflower head are arranged in pairs of logarithmic spirals going in opposite directions (a form of Fermat’s spiral).
