Necrophilic Spring Flowing from a Grand Piano shows one of the many appearances that grand pianos make in Dalí's work during the Thirties. Dalí explained their Surrealistic appearance on the beaches or plains in his paintings, as a sight he had seen in reality: the Pitchot family, who were close friends of the Dalís, performed outdoor concerts, sometimes going to the extent of bringing a grand piano with them.
The piano has a puddle-shaped hole in the middle of its back, out of which a cypress tree grows. Cypress trees often appear in Dalí's paintings of the Thirties, for example in The Dream Approaches (1932). These trees reminded Dalí of the Pitchot estate, where he would spend long, happy hours in erotic daydreams.
The word "necrophilic" in the title recalls Dalí's neurotic fears that penetrative sex would lead to his death. The hole in the piano seems reflective as if filled with water; it is the origin of the "nec