Apparition d’un visage et d’un compotier sur une plage (1938)

Dalí, Salvador (1904-1989)

Apparition d’un visage et d’un compotier sur une plage (Apparition of Face and Fruit Dish on a Beach)
1938
Oil on canvas, 114.3 x 143.8 cm
Wadsworth AtheneumHartford

Curatorial Narrative: At first glance the spectator sees a desolate beach. As the viewer studies the work, a face appears, then a dish filled with pears, then the profile of a dog. These images are fragmented further as the dog’s collar becomes a bridge and his head a hill. The instability of appearances fascinated Dalí, who sought to evoke the world of the unconscious by creating these simultaneous images. The meticulously painted objects and fragments make the metamorphoses and unexpected juxtapositions of the objects even more startling. Trained in Madrid, Dalí went to Paris in 1928 where he met other influential painters such as Picasso and Miró, and further developed his distinct style.

Collection Catalog Narrative: Salvador Dalí painted “Apparition of Face and Fruit Dish on a Beach” at the height of his artistic career during the fall of 1938. Dalí explored the world of the subconscious by creating a dreamy sequence of incongruous images that morph one into the other. In this work, a desolate beach transforms into a face, then a footed dish filled with pears, and next the profile of a dog, whose snout becomes a road and his head a hill. The ruinous landscape and the face, which can be read as a portrait of the artist’s late poet friend Federico García Lorca, bring to life Dalí’s fears and nightmares at the brink of World War II. The surreal work is an evocation of his beloved home country, Spain, which was being ravaged by an ongoing Civil War. (WA)

See also:

• Dalí, Gala (1894-1982) | García Lorca, Federico (1898-1936)