Color lithograph, Arches velin paper, 46 x 64 cm in light Vienna passe-partout, framed 69 x 85 cm
Edition of 250 copies plus 15 copies. E.A. ( Epreuve d'artiste - artist's proof)
Signed in pencil by the author p.d. and numbered l.d. 80/250
Publisher Jacques Carpentier&Simeon Weintrop (Editions Celami); lithographed by Atelier Grapholith in Paris.
References:
Ralf Michler, Lutz W. Löpsinger, Salvador Dali: Catalogue Raisonné of Lithographs and Wood Engravings 1956- 1980, Prestel Publishing Munich - New York 1995, cat. no. 1445;Albert Field raisonné 74-5.
The series, which has the original title "Senza tempo, Les Vitraux, 24 temi dal surrealismo" (Above Time,Vitraux, 24 Surrealist Themes), was created in 1974. In 24 compositions, Dali showed his surrealist visions on many aspects of human life. In 1979, an album containing reproductions of all 24 lithographs of the series was published at the Vatican, and Luigi Testaferrata included interpretations told to him by Salvador Dali for each of the 24 Stained Glass compositions, in addition to an extensive discussion of Dali's work. Thus, this is one of the few series for which Dalí personally provided explanations, making it unique in terms of interpretation.
Victory of the Primal Man according to Dalí (transcribed by L.Testaferrate):
"Expectations that happen, that happened at the very beginnings of the world: expectations that froze the sky into a motionless sheet of blue ice, stopped the rotation of the constellations and fixed the sun to a point in space where it continued to shine without warmth, like a mother-of-pearl button sewn to the blue dress of silence and stillness. Expectations that happened, until one morning a naked Man ( no longer a monster, no longer a fetus, no longer a fleeting larva) mounted the back of the Heavenly Horse. Confident, convinced of his strength and grace, illuminated by a yellow sunny ribbon of golden light, he proceeded towards the vortex of azure. Thus began a new conquest of the world: it was enough for the hand of Man to reach out, and space opened up, the sky melted, the constellations began to rotate again, the sun regained its bright heat, and the world became a world of men."
