Salvador Dalí didn't actually create the sculpture with the elephant but was inspired by it and painted four different paintings that included or focused on the elephant.

Swans Reflecting Elephants (1937)
Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening (1944)
The Temptation of St. Anthony (1946)
The Elephants (1948)

It is called, Elephant and Obelisk, and is a sculpture designed by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

The obelisk was discovered in 1655 in a garden belonging to the Dominican monastery. The obelisk was discovered to be one of two obelisks that was transported from Sais and was built during 589-570 BC in Egypt, the other being on display in Urbino. Shortly after the obelisk was discovered, Pope Alexander VII began to entertain ideas for a new display utilizing the obelisk……Bernini was approached and asked to design a solution, and he presented the Pope with several designs.

The solution eventually chosen was, of course, a depiction of an elephant holding up the Obelisk on its back. This solution was inspired by a popular and well known novel at the time, and was one of the first books actually printed in Italy. The book was titled "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" or "Poliphilo's The Strife of Love in a Dream" and was written by Francesco Colonna. The book was written in 1499 and included the main character meeting an elephant made of stone carrying an obelisk. A wood cut was included in the novel, that depicted a Elephant that looked very similar to the elephant obelisk.

In Bernini's original drawings, the obelisk's weight would actually have fully rested on the legs of the animal. However, father Paglia was envious of Bernini receiving the commission and convinced the Pope that "according to traditional cannons, no weight should rest vertically above an empty space, as it would not be steady nor long lasting". ("Minerva's Chick") Bernini was very opposed to this modification, especially as he had already proven that he could accomplish such a task in his "Four Rivers Fountain" in Piazza Navona.

The Pope decided to add the cube to Bernini's elephant all the same, and though Bernini attempted to disguise the heavy look of the cube by adding in a saddle to the elephant's back, it was not entirely successful and the elephant was thus nicknamed "Procino della Minerva", or Minerva's Piggy because of its thick and heavy look. This name eventually changed into the obelisk's present name of "Pulcino della Minerva".

Bernini was able to take his revenge upon the Pope and Paglia by depicting the elephant's rear end as pointing toward the Dominican Monastery, "the tail slightly shifted to the left, in the attitude of saluting Father Paglia and the other Dominican Friars in a rather obscene way." Bernini's design was carried out by a student of his, specifically Ercole Ferrala in 1667 and, as per the Pope's request, the inscription on the base reads, "… a strong mind is needed to support a strong knowledge."

If anyone can add information or let me know if I missed something let me know.

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