Brainstorms

Use the “Key Drop” Trick to Spark Your Creativity

It was made famous by Salvador Dali, the master surrealist painter.

Published

1 year ago

December 27, 2022

Signs of the Times Staff Signs of the Times January 2023 Issue

Get Surreal

Need inspiration for a sign design you’re working on? Plumb the depths of your dozing subconscious a la Salvador Dali. In their book When Brains Dream, Antonio Zadra and Robert Stickgold write that when the surrealist painter felt sleepy, he would sit in an armchair with his hand on the arm holding a key over the edge, and he would think about a painting he wanted to create. As he dozed off, the key would drop to the floor and wake him, sealing whatever image was in his mind at the time. Those mental images became some of his most famous paintings.

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