Artwork Details
Description
This large, richly painted work may at first seem rather inexplicable, but does reveal several clues upon closer inspection. Dalí has placed a large, cavity-filled object in the middle ground of the painting; filling the concave pockets with words and objects. The object is bracketed by finely detailed depictions of the familiar rocks of Cap de Creus and Port Lligat.
On the left, one of the openings contains the words ‘deux foix’ (two times in French) and a key, which is also repeated to the immediate right. This is a reference to both the word-image paintings of the Belgian surrealist René Magritte (b. 1898 – d.1967), and Dalí’s sexual relations with his wife/muse/model Gala. The upper central cavity contains the words ‘Gillaume Tell’, in reference to the Swiss myth that Dalí felt a personal connection with.
The red, jewel-like object in the center contains a small portrait of a man’s head balanced on his nose. This is based on a geographical formation called the Rock of Cullero near Dalí’s home, and has been appropriated by Dali as a self-portrait image that he refers to as the ‘Great Masturbator’.
Exhibition History:
1931, Hartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum, “Newer Super-Realism”
1932, Paris, Pierre Colle, “Exposition Salvador Dalí”
1949, Bruxelles, Palais des Thermes, “Gloires de la peinture moderne : hommage à James Ensor”
1956, Knokke Le Zoute, Casino de Knokke Le Zoute, “Salvador Dalí”
1965, New York, Gallery of Modern Art, “Salvador Dalí, 1910-1965”
1997, Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art, "Treasures from the Salvador Dalí Museum"
1998, Liverpool, Tate Gallery, “Dali: A Mythology”
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”
2004, Washington D.C., The Castle-Smithsonian, “Eight Wonders of the Salvador Dali Museum”
2007, St. Petersburg, Fl., Salvador Dalí Museum, “Dalí and the Spanish Baroque”
2012, Paris, Centre Pompidou, “Dali: Retrospective”
2013, Madrid, Museo Nacional Reina Sofia, “Dalí. Todas las sugestiones poéticas y todas las posibilidades plásticas”
2018, St. Petersburg, The Dalí Museum, "Magritte and Dalí"
2019, Brussels, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, "Magritte and Dalí"