Description

Date:

1932

Technique:

Wooden box, sheets of painted glass and light source

Dimensions:

25 x 26,5 x 35 cm

Location:

Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres

It is very likely that Dalí conceived this work as a promotional object to publicize his book Babaouo : scénario inédit, précédé d'un abrégé d'une histoire critique du cinéma, et suivi de Guillaume Tell, ballet portugais, published in 1932 by Éditions des Cahiers Libres in Paris. This publication presents a script by Dalí for a Surrealist film, which was not in fact made at the time. The object consists of a wooden box with seven panes of glass painted by the artist in its interior, placed one behind the other and lit from the back. The iconography is related to certain sequences of the film project, featuring cyclists with large stones or breads on their head. The result is a painting conceived as a three-dimensional object, with remarkable effects of perspective and depth, a creation that can be related to the Optical Theatre system of animated moving pictures, which fascinated Dalí as a boy.

Observations

Exhibitions

1. 1964, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, Le Surréalisme : sources, histoire, affinités, 13/04/1964 - 30/09/1964, cat. no. 88
2. 1979, Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Salvador Dalí: rétrospective, 1920-1980, 18/12/1979 - 21/04/1980, cat. no. 177
3. 1980, London, The Tate Gallery, Salvador Dalí, 14/05/1980 - 29/06/1980, cat. no. 125
4. 1982, Tokyo, Isetan Museum of Art, Rétrospective Salvador Dalí 1982, 28/02/1982 - 06/04/1982, cat. no. 72
5. 1982, Osaka, Daimaru Art Museum, Rétrospective Salvador Dalí 1982, 22/04/1982 - 05/05/1982, cat. no. 72
6. 1982, Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art, Rétrospective Salvador Dalí 1982, 08/05/1982 - 06/06/1982, cat. no. 72
7. 1982, Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of Art, Rétrospective Salvador Dalí 1982, 11/06/1982 - 11/07/1982, cat. no. 72
8. 1987, Kobe, The Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Homage to Catalonia - Barcelona art city, 11/04/1987 - 17/05/1987, cat. no. 119
9. 1989, Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie, Salvador Dalí, 1904-1989, 13/05/1989 - 23/07/1989, cat. no. 89
10. 1989, Zürich, Kunsthaus, Salvador Dalí, 1904-1989, 18/08/1989 - 22/10/1989, cat. no. 89
11. 1989, Humlebaek, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Salvador Dali, 16/12/1989 - 11/03/1990, cat. no. 76
12. 1990, Montréal, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Salvador Dalí, 27/04/1990 - 29/07/1990, cat. no. 20
13. 2004, Barcelona, CaixaForum, Dalí. Cultura de masses, 05/02/2004 - 23/05/2004, cat. no. 120
14. 2004, Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Dalí. Cultura de masas, 15/06/2004 - 30/08/2004, cat. no. 120
15. 2004, St. Petersburg (Florida), Salvador Dalí Museum, Dalí. Mass Culture, 01/08/2004 - 30/01/2005, cat. no. 120
16. 2005, Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, It's all Dali, 05/03/2005 - 12/06/2005, no reference
17. 2007, London, Tate Modern, Dalí & Film, 01/06/2007 - 09/09/2007, cat. no. 72
18. 2007, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Dalí & Film, 14/10/2007 - 06/01/2008, cat. no. 72
19. 2008, St. Petersburg, Salvador Dalí Museum, Dalí & Film, 01/02/2008 - 01/06/2008, cat. no. 72
20. 2008, New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Dalí & Film, 29/06/2008 - 15/09/2008, cat. no. 72
21. 2012, Paris, Centre Pompidou, Dalí, 21/11/2012 - 25/03/2013, no reference
22. 2013, Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Dalí. Todas las sugestiones poéticas y todas las posibilidades plásticas, 27/04/2013 - 02/09/2013, no reference

Bibliography

1. René Crevel, "Surrealisme", Vu, année 6, num. 275, 21-27/06/1933, Paris, p. 923, ill., indirect image
2. David Gascoyne, A short survey of surrealism, Cobden-Sanderson, [Londres], 1935, p. 122
3. Le Surréalisme : sources, histoire, affinités, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 1964, p. [31]
4. Salvador Dalí, The Tate Gallery, London, 1980, p. 27
5. Salvador Dalí: retrospektive, 1920-1980, Prestel, München, 1980, p. 234, ill.
6. Josep Pla, Salvador Dalí (il.), Obres de museu, DASA, Figueres, 1981, p. 53, ill.
7. Ignacio Gómez de Liaño, Dalí, Polígrafa, Barcelona, 1982, pp. [65], [125], fig. 49
8. Dawn Ades, Dalí and surrealism, Harper & Row, New York, 1982, pp. [201], 214, ill.
9. Dawn Ades, Dalí, Thames and Hudson, London, 1982, pp. [201], 214, ill.
10. Rétrospective Salvador Dalí 1982, Edition Art Life, [S.l.], 1982, pp. [120], [150], ill.
11. Robert Descharnes, Dalí, l'oeuvre et l'homme, Edita, Lausanne, 1984, p. 121, ill.
12. Robert Descharnes, Dalí, sein Werk, sein Leben: die Eroberung, des Irrationalen, Dumont, Köln, 1984, p. 121, ill.
13. Robert Descharnes, Dalí, the work, the man: 1910-1933, Kodansha, [Tòquio], 1984, p. 121, ill.
14. Robert Descharnes, Dalí : la obra y el hombre, Tusquets, Edita, Barcelona, Lausanne, 1984, p. 121, ill.
15. Salvador Dalí, Rafael Santos Torroella, Salvador Dalí corresponsal de J.V. Foix, 1932-1936, Mediterrània, Barcelona, 1986, p. [51], ill., indirect image
16. Homage to Catalonia - Barcelona art city, Commitee of exhibition (Homage to Catalonia-Barcelona art city), [S.l.], 1987, pp. 189, 239, ill.
17. Robert Descharnes, Salvador Dalí : the work, the man, Henry N. Abrams, New York, 1989, p. 121, ill.
18. Louisiana revy, [Louisiana Revy], Humlebaek, 1989, p. 62
19. Salvador Dalí, 1904-1989, Gerd Hatje, Stuttgart, 1989, pp. 116-117, ill.
20. Salvador Dalí, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montréal, 1990, p. 54, ill.
21. Salvador Dalí, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Montréal, 1990, p. 54, ill.
22. René Passeron, Salvador Dalí, Ars Mundi, [S.l.], 1990, pp. [12], 24, ill.
23. Ignacio Gómez de Liaño, Dalí, Albin Michel, Paris, 1990, pp. [65], [125], fig. 49
24. Dalí, el pa, Tusquets, Barcelona, 1993, p. 36, ill.
25. Dalí, el pan, Tusquets, Barcelona, 1993, p. 36, ill.
26. Robert Descharnes, Gilles Néret, Salvador Dalí, 1904 -1989, Benedikt Taschen, Köln, 1994, p. 182, ill.
27. Haim Finkelstein, Salvador Dalí's art and writing, 1927-1942 : the metamorphoses of Narcissus, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996, pp. 118, 290
28. Dawn Ades, Dalí, Thames and Hudson, London, 1998, pp. 201, 214, ill.
29. Xavier Barral i Altet, Les Indigestions de Dalí, Edicions de 1984, Barcelona, 2003, pp. 68-69
30. Xavier Barral i Altet, Las Indigestiones de Dalí, Edicions de 1984, Barcelona, 2003, pp. 68-69
31. Alfonso Puyal, Cinema y arte nuevo : la recepción fílmica en la vanguardia española , 1917-1937, Biblioteca Nueva, Madrid, 2003, p. 277
32. Robert Descharnes, Nicolas Descharnes, Dalí : le dur et le mou : sortilège et magie des formes, sculptures et objets, Eccart, [Azay le Rideau], 2003, p. 17, ill.
33. Companion to Spanish surrealism, Tamesis, Woodbridge, 2004, p. 131
34. Dalí. Cultura de masses, Fundació La Caixa, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Barcelona, Figueres, 2004, pp. 91, 268, ill.
35. Dalí. Mass Culture, Fundació La Caixa, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Barcelona, Figueres, 2004, pp. 91, 268, ill.
36. Dalí. Cultura de masas, Fundación La Caixa, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Barcelona, Figueres, 2004, pp. 91, 268, ill.
37. It's all Dalí, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2005, p. 131, ill.
38. Agustín Sánchez Vidal, Salvador Dalí, Fundación Mapfre. Instituto de Cultura, Madrid, 2007, cover, pp. 54-55, ill.
39. Dalí & film, Tate Publishing, London, 2007, p. 124, ill.
40. Antoni Pitxot, Montse Aguer i Teixidor, Teatro-Museo Dalí : foto guía, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Triangle Postals, [Figueres], Sant Lluís, Menorca, 2007, p. 44, ill.
41. Antoni Pitxot, Montse Aguer i Teixidor, The Dalí Theatre-Museum : photo guide, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Triangle Postals, [Figueres], Sant Lluís, Menorca, 2007, p. 44, ill.
42. Antoni Pitxot, Montse Aguer i Teixidor, Teatre-Museu Dalí : foto guia, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Triangle Postals, [Figueres], Sant Lluís, Menorca, 2007, p. 44, ill.
43. Dalí y el cine, Electa, Barcelona, 2008, p. 124, ill.
44. Un perro andaluz 80 años después, Sociedad Estatal de Conmemoraciones Culturales, La Fábrica, Madrid, 2009, p. 85, ill.
45. William Jeffett, Dalí doubled : from surrealism to the self : a new critical view of Dalí, The Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg, 2010, pp. 46, 315, ill.
46. Catherine Grenier, Salvador Dalí : l'invention de soi, Flammarion, París, 2011, p. [192], ill.
47. Dalí, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2012, pp. 250-251, ill.
48. Dalí : Todas las sugestiones poéticas y todas las posibilidades plásticas, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, TF Editores, Madrid, 2013, pp. 250-251, ill.

Related works

• The Little Theatre 1934

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