In 1969 Salvador Dalí illustrated a limited edition of the classic 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (commonly referred to as Alice in Wonderland), written by Lewis Carroll.
Dalí felt a connection to Alice in Wonderland as many of his artworks examine dream-like states and in this chapter of the story, Alice falls asleep to dream about a magical place.
In connection to Dalí’s dreams, Alice in Wonderland - Down the rabbit hole shows a grasshopper in the upper section of the image. Dalí dreamt of and associated the grasshopper with fear and devastation, associated with traumas from his childhood and biblical references to the locust (grasshopper) being associated with the apocalypse and plague.
In Carroll’s fairy tale, Alice dreams of seeing the White Rabbit holding a pocket watch and declaring that he is late. She follows him down a tunnel-like rabbit hole and lands in an unknown room, which is the start of her journey through Wonderland.