Cat. no. OE
14

Buste de femme rétrospectif

Retrospective Bust of a Woman

Abundance

1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
  • Unique Original Work with Versions

    Unique Original Work with Versions

    1933

  • Unique Original Version

    Unique Original Version

    1934

  • Unique Original Version

    Unique Original Version

    1937

  • Unique Original Version

    Unique Original Version

    1938

  • Unique Original Version

    Unique Original Version

    1939

Retrospective Bust of a Woman

Cat. no. OE 14

Retrospective Bust of a Woman

1933

Description

Unique Original Work with Versions
Date:
1933
Technique:
Assemblage
Dimensions:
73.9 x 69.2 x 32 cm
Inscriptions:
On the back: BOTTAUX M DE CHEVEUX / BREVIT SGDG / RUE CROIX DES PETITS CHAMPS
Location:
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest and gift of Philip Johnson (both by exchange)
Description:
This is the current state of the surrealistic object created by Dalí in 1933, which incorporates a number of elements reconstructed between 1970 and 1979. Dalí also identified it as an object-sculpture in his 1935 book La Conquête de l’irrationel, and for this reason the same denomination also applies in this case to the category of this work. It was presented in June 1933 at the Pierre Colle gallery in Paris, and in October of the same year at the Salon des Surindépendants, with a second title: Abundance. The artist used various found objects that reflect the most relevant and symbolic iconography of his Surrealist period: an inkwell with the figures from Millet’s The Angelus, a loaf of bread, a zootrope and some corn cobs, all mounted on a porcelain bust with ants painted on it. It is probable that the bust was originally a mannequin for wigs. Between 1934 and 1939, Dalí modified this object-sculpture by substituting and / or adding certain elements, in a series of creative acts that gave rise to unique original versions of ephemeral character.