Portrait of Frank Brian Mercer

© Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, Figueres, 2017

Cat. no. P 861

Portrait of Frank Brian Mercer

Description

Date:
1973
Technique:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
110 x 94 cm
Signature:
Signed and dated on the lower right: Salvador Dalí / 1973
Signed on the center left: Dalí
Location:
The Royal Society, London

Provenance

  1. Brian Mercer
  2. Bequeathed by Brian Mercer in 1998

Observations

In a manuscript now in a private collection, Dalí explains how he imagined this portrait: "My conception of the portrait of Mr Mercer is to have represented him lost in a reverie of imperialist inventions. He is present in the light of the Mediterranean where the definitive sessions of the portrait took place, but his spirit glides among the constant inventive and mechanical imaginations of his restless spirit, which in the picture calms towards a spiritual tranquillity and stability. The technique approaches Dalí’s new tendency, which is the confluence of Classicism and Hyperrealism, after his Surrealist long march." (Salvador Dalí, Enrique Sabater, "A Sabater con un Abrazon en el Quin Elisabet". Turin, Umberto Allemandi, 1998, p. 58).

Bibliography

  1. Robert Descharnes, Gilles Néret, Salvador Dalí, 1904 -1989, Benedikt Taschen, Köln, 1994, p. 634
  2. Enrique Sabater, "A Sabater con un abrazón en el Quin Elisabet". Dalí, Umberto Allemandi, Torino, 1998, p. 77 (indirect image)

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