Artwork Details
Description
In his 1935 book The Conquest of the Irrational, Dalí states that his intention is to create “…hand-done color photography… [photography of] the superfine, extravagant, extra-plastic, super-pictorial, super-plastic, deceptive, hyper normal and sickly images of concrete irrationality.” Dalí’s hand-painted color photographs are created on the scale of a snapshot. Through this technique, Dalí has created the perfect enigma, turning the animate into the inanimate.
This alarming piece has been described as “a little jewel of a painting.” Dalí has so successfully captured the golden luminescence of the Mediterranean sun that the work virtually glows; however, the scene it depicts is shocking. Two inanimate objects, a piano and a skull, have come to life and are engaging in a violent act. The sweeping shadows and diagonal of the fisherman's boat accentuate the skull’s aggressive movement. This act stands in shocking contrast to the idyllic calm that pervades this otherwise realistic scene.
Exhibition History:
1934, Paris, Jacques Bonjean, “Exposition Dali”
1956, Knokke Le Zoute, Casino de Knokke Le Zoute, “Salvador Dalí”
1965, New York, Gallery of Modern Art, “Salvador Dalí, 1910-1965”
2000, Hartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, “Dalí's Optical Illusions”
2000, Washington, D.C., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, “Dalí's Optical Illusions”
2000, Edinburgh, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, “Dalí's Optical Illusions”
2009, Melbourne, National Gallery of Victoria, "Salvador Dalí : Liquid Desire"