In a chainlike succession of images, a pomegranate bursts open to release a giant red snapper that in turn disgorges two raging tigers, whose leaping forms were derived from a Ringling Bros, and Barnum-Bailey, circus poster. Closest to the gravity-defying female nude is a bayoneted rifle that is about to pierce her arm, while in the middle ground, near the horizon, an elephant carrying an obelisk on its back strides across the brilliant blue sea on stilted legs. This hybrid creature, a variation on Bernini's elephant-monument, was for Dali a symbol of war and destruction, and its presence in this painting helps to convey a mood of terror and confusion appropriate for such a nightmarish vision. The disconcerting image of an enormous fish spewing forth a pair of leaping tigers appears to have been directly inspired by the work of Hieronymus Bosch.