Description

Date:

1933

Technique:

Assemblage

Dimensions:

Unknown

Location:

Unknown

The identification of this surrealistic object was also made possible by the aforementioned photograph by Man Ray, which includes some of the works on show in the Exposition surréaliste at the Pierre Colle gallery in 1933, and also thanks to an article in the daily L’Intransigeant, accompanied by the same Man Ray photograph, with the caption ‘La chaise atmosphérique’. On the basis of these data, the title listed as number 8 in the exhibition catalogue has been assigned to this work: Chaise atmosphérique. It is also worth noting that the photographic collage Le phénomène de l’extase, published by Dalí in Minotaure in 1933, includes an image of this work, and that in the text of the corresponding article Dalí refers to the ‘atmospheric chair’. He also refers to the process of creating this work in The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí, where he relates it to the characteristics of a Surrealist object: ‘One day I received a present from my very good friend Jean-Michel Frank, the decorator: two chairs of the purest 1900 style. I immediately transformed one of them in the following fashion. I changed its leather seat for one made of chocolate; then I had a golden Louis XV door-knob screwed under one of the feet, thus extending it and making the chair lean far over to its right, and giving it an unstable balance so calculated that it was only necessary to walk heavily or to bang the door to make the chair topple over. One of the legs of the chair was to repose continuously in a glass of beer, which also would spill each time the chair keeled over. I called this dreadfully uncomfortable chair, which produced a profound uneasiness in all who saw it, the “atmospheric chair”.’ It seems reasonable to attribute this description to the work presented at the Galerie Pierre Colle, given that elements similar to those mentioned by Dalí can be seen at the bottom of the legs of the chair. In 1934 the artist presented a work of similar characteristics in the window display for the exhibition Salvador Dalí 42 eaux-fortes et 30 dessins pour Les Chants de Maldoror at La Librairie Les Quatre Chemins bookshop in Paris.  

Exhibitions

1. 1933, Paris, Pierre Colle, Exposition Surréaliste, 07/06/1933 - 18/06/1933, cat. no. 8

Bibliography

1. Exposition Surréaliste, Pierre Colle, Paris, [1933], p. [1]
2. "Objets surréalistes", L' Intransigeant, 54 année, 12/06/1933, Paris, p. 10, ill.
3. Salvador Dalí, "Le phénomène de l'extase", Minotaure, 12/12/1933, Paris, ill., indirect image
4. Petite anthologie poétique du surréalisme, Jeanne Bucher, Paris, 1934, between pp. 32-33, ill., indirect image
5. L'Échange surréaliste, Librairie Bon, Tokio, 1936, p. [75], ill., indirect image
6. Julien Levy, Surrealism, The Black Sun Press, New York, 1936, lam. 17, ill., indirect image
7. "Playboy interview: Salvador Dali", Playboy, vol. 11, no. 7, 07/1964, Chicago, IL, p. 46
8. Robert Lebel, L'Arte moderna : metafisica, dada, surrealismo, Fratelli Fabbri, Milano, 1967, p. 378, il·l, indirect image
9. Surrealismo, el ojo soluble, Litoral, Málaga, 1968, p. 97, ill., indirect image
10. William S. Rubin, Dada and surrealist art, Harry N. Abrams, New York, [1968], p. 434, ill., indirect image
11. William S. Rubin, Art Dada et Surrealiste, Seghers, Paris, [1976], pp. 434, 484, ill., indirect image
12. Dawn Ades, Dada and surrealism reviewed, Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1978, p. 283, ill., indirect image
13. Salvador Dalí: rétrospective, 1920-1980, Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d'Art moderne, Paris, 1979, p. 213, ill., indirect image
14. André Breton, Le Surréalisme et la peinture, Gallimard, [París], 1979, p. [274], ill., indirect image
15. Salvador Dalí: retrospektive, 1920-1980, Prestel, München, 1980, p. 213, ill., indirect image
16. Robert Short, Dada & surrealism, Octopus, London, 1980, p. [106], ill., indirect image
17. La Vie publique de Salvador Dalí, Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d'Art moderne, Paris, 1980, p. 213, ill., indirect image
18. Salvador Dalí, The Tate Gallery, London, 1980, p. 27, ill., indirect image
19. Luoghi del silenzio imparziale : labirinto contemporaneo, Feltrinelli, Milano, 1981, p. 70, ill., indirect image
20. Patrick Waldberg, Michel Sanouillet, Robert Lebel, Dada, surréalisme, Rive Gauche Production, Paris, 1981, pp. 324, ill., indirect image
21. Dawn Ades, Dalí and surrealism, Harper & Row, New York, 1982, p. 104, ill., indirect image
22. Dawn Ades, Dalí, Thames and Hudson, London, 1982, p. 104, ill., indirect image
23. Maria Gabriella Guglielmi, Fotografia e paranoia. L'occhio di Salvador Dalí, Arnica, Roma, 1983, p. 25, ill., indirect image
24. Whitney Chadwick, Women artists and the surrealist movement, Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1985, p. 32, ill., indirect image
25. Rosalind E. Krauss, Jane Livingston, L'Amour fou : photography & surrealism, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Abbeville, Washington, D. C., New York, London, 1985, p. 26, ill., indirect image
26. Surrealisme a Catalunya : 1924-1936, Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de Cultura, Barcelona, 1988, p. 192, ill., indirect image
27. El Objeto surrealista en España, Museo de Teruel, Fundació Caixa de Barcelona, Teruel, [Barcelona], 1990, p. 145, ill., indirect image
28. L'Objecte surrealista a Espanya, Diputació Provincial de Teruel, Fundació Caixa de Barcelona, Teruel, Barcelona, 1990, p. 145, ill., indirect image
29. Briony Fer, David Batchelor, Paul Wood, Realism, rationalism, surrealism : art between the wars, Yale University Press in association with the Open University, New Haven & London, 1993, p. 214, ill., indirect image
30. Surrealism : revolution by night, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 1993, p. 149, ill., indirect image
31. ¿Buñuel!, Auge des Jahrhunderts, Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, 1994, p. 160, ill., indirect image
32. Robert Descharnes, Gilles Néret, Salvador Dalí, 1904 -1989, Benedikt Taschen, Köln, 1994, p. [206], ill., indirect image
33. Julien Levy, Surrealism, Da Capo Press, New York, 1995, p. [104], ill., indirect image
34. ¿Buñuel!, la mirada del siglo, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Madrid, México, Distrito Federal, 1996, p. 118, ill., indirect image
35. Haim Finkelstein, Salvador Dalí's art and writing, 1927-1942 : the metamorphoses of Narcissus, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996, p. 144, ill., indirect image
36. El Objeto surrealista, IVAM Centre Julio González, Generalitat Valenciana. Conselleria de Cultura, Educació i Ciència, [València], 1997, p. 80, ill., indirect image
37. Gérard Durozoi, Histoire du mouvement surréaliste, Hazan, Paris, 1997, p. 220, ill., indirect image
38. Pascal Bonafoux, Christophe Valentin (il.), La Beauté comestible : à propos de Dalí et les aliments, Plume, Paris, 1998, p. 64, ill., indirect image
39. Briony Fer, David Batchelor, Paul Wood, Realismo, racionalismo, surrealismo : el arte entreguerras, Akal, Madrid, 1999, p. 218, ill., indirect image
40. Surrealism: two private eyes, the Nesuhi Ertegun and Daniel Filipacchi collections, Guggenheim Museum Publications, New York, 1999, p. 662, ill., indirect image
41. David Lomas, The Haunted self : surrealism, psychoanalysis, subjectivity, Yale University Press, New Haven, London, 2000, p. [54], ill., indirect image
42. The Art of the surreal : evening sale, Christie's, London, 2002, p. 10, ill., indirect image
43. André Breton, Le Surréalisme et la peinture, Gallimard, [Paris], 2002, p. [252], ill., indirect image
44. Rosalind E. Krauss, Jane Livingston, Dawn Ades, Explosante - fixe : photographie & surréalisme, Hazan, [S.l.], 2002, p. 26, ill., indirect image
45. Gérard Durozoi, History of the surrealist movement, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, London, 2002, p. [216], ill., indirect image
46. Surrealismus 1914 - 1944 : Dalí, Max Ernst, Magritte, Miró, Picasso..., K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hatje Cantz, Düsseldorf, Ostfildern-Ruit, 2002, p. 71, ill., indirect image
47. Ricard Mas Peinado, Universdalí, Lunwerg, Barcelona, Madrid, 2003, p. 187, ill., indirect image
48. Salvador Dalí, Obra completa : Textos autobiogràfics 1, Destino, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Barcelona, [Figueres], 2003, p. 753
49. André Breton : 42, rue Fontaine : photographies, Calmels Cohen, Paris, 2003, p. 171, ill., indirect image
50. Dalí : afinidades electivas, Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de Cultura, Barcelona, 2004, p. [127], ill., indirect image
51. Francisco Javier San Martín, Dalí-Duchamp : una fraternidad oculta, Alianza, Madrid, 2004, p. 95, ill., indirect image
52. Mary Ann Caws, Surrealism, Phaidon, London, 2004, p. 131, ill., indirect image
53. Cathrin Klingsöhr-Leroy, Surrealismo, Taschen, Köln, [etc.], 2004, p. 17, ill., indirect image
54. Dalí : afinitats electives, Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de Cultura, Barcelona, 2004, p. [127], ill., indirect image
55. Dalí Gaudí : La revolución del sentimiento de originalidad, Fundació Caixa Catalunya, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Barcelona, Figueres, 2004, p. 50, ill., indirect image
56. Dalí Gaudí : The revolution of the sentiment of originality, Fundació Caixa Catalunya, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Barcelona, Figueres, 2004, p. 50, ill., indirect image
57. Dalí Gaudí : La revolució del sentiment d'originalitat, Fundació Caixa Catalunya, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Barcelona, Figueres, 2004, p. 50, ill., indirect image
58. Juan José Lahuerta, El Fenómeno del éxtasis, Siruela, Madrid, 2004, p. 17, ill., indirect image
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60. Vicent Santamaria de Mingo, El Pensament de Salvador Dalí en el llindar dels anys trenta, Publicacions de la Universitat Jaume I, Castelló de la Plana, 2005, p. 57, ill.
61. Charles Stuckey, "Dalí in Duchamp-Land", Art in America, no. 5, 05/2005, New York, NY, p. 152, ill., indirect image
62. Salvador Dalí, Obra completa : Entrevistes, Destino, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Barcelona, [Figueres], 2006, pp. 846-847
63. Dalí & film, Tate Publishing, London, 2007, p. 113, ill., indirect image
64. Montse Aguer i Teixidor, Juan José Lahuerta, Salvador Dalí i les revistes, Distribucions d'Art Surrealista, [Figueres], 2008, fig. 106, ill., indirect image
65. Montse Aguer i Teixidor, Juan José Lahuerta, Salvador Dalí and the magazines, Distribucions d'Art Surrealista, [Figueres], 2008, fig. 106, ill., indirect image
66. Montse Aguer i Teixidor, Juan José Lahuerta, Salvador Dalí et les magazines, Distribucions d'Art Surrealista, [Figueres], 2008, fig. 106, ill., indirect image
67. Montse Aguer i Teixidor, Juan José Lahuerta, Salvador Dalí y las revistas, Distribucions d'Art Surrealista, [Figueres], 2008, fig. 106, ill., indirect image
68. Montse Aguer i Teixidor, Juan José Lahuerta, [Salvador Dalí i les revistes], Distribucions d'Art Surrealista, [Figueres], 2008, fig. 106, ill., indirect image
69. Mary Ann Caws, Salvador Dalí, Reaktion Books, London, 2008, p. 91, ill., indirect image
70. Jean-Michel Frank : un décorateur dans le Paris des années 30, Norma, Paris, 2009, p. [132]
71. Carmen Fernández Aparicio, Adelina Moya, Josefina Alix, Forma, signo y realidad: escultura española 1900-1935 = Forma, zeinua eta errealitatea: espainiar eskultura 1900-1935, Fundación Museo Jorge Oteiza = Jorge Oteiza Fundazio Museoa, Alzuza, 2010, p. 80, ill., indirect image
72. William Jeffett, Dalí doubled : from surrealism to the self : a new critical view of Dalí, The Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg, 2010, p. 90, ill., indirect image
73. Catherine Grenier, Salvador Dalí : l'invention de soi, Flammarion, París, 2011, p. 240, ill., indirect image
74. Surrealism in Paris, Hatje Kantz, Basilea, 2011, p. [85], ill., indirect image
75. Dalí, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2012, p. [141], ill., indirect image
76. Dalí : Todas las sugestiones poéticas y todas las posibilidades plásticas, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, TF Editores, Madrid, 2013, p. [141], ill., indirect image
77. Didier Ottinger, Dictionnaire de l'objet surréaliste, Gallimard, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2013, p. 68, ill., indirect image
78. David Lomas, Simulating the marvellous : psychology - surrealism - postmodernism, Manchester University Press, Manchester, New York, 2013, p. 104, ill., indirect image
79. Astrid Ruffa, Salvador Dalí : una mirada espiritual, La Central, Barcelona, 2013, p. [40], ill., indirect image
80. Salvador Dalí, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, Sao Paulo, 2014, pp. 83, 245, 264, il·l., indirect image
81. William Jeffett, Juan José Lahuerta, Picasso-Dalí, Dalí-Picasso, Museu Picasso, Salvador Dalí Museum, Barcelona, Sant Petersburg, 2014, p. 40, ill., indirect image
82. Valerie J. Fletcher, Marvelous objects : surrealist sculpture from Paris to New York, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Delmonico Books, Prestel, Washington, DC, Munich, London, New York, 2015, p. 45, ill., indirect image
83. Pilar Parcerisas, Dalí, Duchamp, Man Ray : una partida d'escacs, Museu de Cadaqués, Cadaqués, 2016, p. 71, ill., indirect image
84. Dalí / Duchamp, Royal Academy of Arts, The Dalí Museum, London, St. Petersburg, FL, 2017, pp. 30, 197, ill., indirect image

Related works

• Untitled. Window display for the exhibition «Salvador Dali 42 eaux-fortes et 30 dessins pour Les Chants de Maldoror» 1934

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