SALVADOR DALÍ (1904-1989)
The Kiss from the Song of Solomon series, 1970s.
Technique: color etching with gold, Lana paper with filigree of ram's head
Dimensions: 40 × 25 cm, 58 x 40 cm (with frame)
Numbered in pencil in lower left corner: 233/250
Work reproduced and described in two major catalogs of Salvador Dali's prints:
-Albert Field "The Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dali" 1996.
-Michel & Löpsinger "Dali - catalogue raisonné of etchings and mixed-media prints, 1924-1980″.
Condition of preservation: very good.
Paper slightly creamy, clean, with visible handmade paper texture. Colors saturated, gilding and inks preserved. Minimal foxing points outside the image field.
"The Kiss" from the "Song of Songs of Solomon" series refers directly to the famous first verse of this biblical book:
"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is better than wine." (Song of Songs 1:2)
"The Kiss" is one of the more intimate and poetic depictions in Salvador Dalí's graphics. At the center of the composition is a cup - a double form, which is also a symbolic "kiss" of two profiles. The composition is based on optical play, in which the faces of the man and the woman become one. The work is full of Dalí's characteristic details - flowing hair, subtle floral ornaments and smooth transitions of forms - while maintaining a linear rigor.
Salvador Dalí - one of the most important representatives of Surrealism, born in 1904 in Figueres (Catalonia), died there in 1989. An extremely versatile artist: painter, graphic artist, writer, stage designer and eccentric, who gained worldwide fame thanks to his original personality and imagination. He became famous for his paintings full of dreamlike symbols, precisely painted with hyperrealistic detail. In parallel with painting, he created a rich body of graphic work - he illustrated the Bible, Dante' s Divine Comedy, Goethe's Faust and Boccaccio's Decameron, among others. Today, his works are in the world's most important museums, including MoMA in New York, the Reina Sofía in Madrid and the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres.
