In his painting "The Burning Giraffe", Salvador Dali critiques the modernist movement. He believed that the artists of the time had lost touch with reality, instead creating a world that only existed in their own minds. To Dali, this was a form of insanity, and he wanted to warn people about it through his art. The giraffe in the painting is symbolic of the modern artist, who is so consumed by their own ego that they're blind to the destruction they're causing. The flames represent the destructive power of their narcissism, and the melting clocks depict how time is meaningless to them. In the end, Dali's message is that we should be careful not to lose touch with reality, or we'll end up like the burning giraffe.