Paysage (Landscape), 1931

Painted in 1931.

Mysteriously perched atop a monument, Dalí’s famed red shoe appears in the barren landscape of the present work. Compositionally, Dalí divided the present work into two distinct areas. On the right of the work lies a flat, nondescript stretch of land with an expanse of sky dominated by a large rock and its shadow along the horizon line. On the left of the canvas Dalí chose to display a discordant assemblage of objects. Many of the motifs from his highly complex and personal iconography appear in the present work, including the hanging sheet, which often hints at the unknowable within one’s own psyche. Dalí also depicted two partially obscured cypresses; the trees were also laden with meaning for the artist, who often conflated their traditional associations with death with a highly charged eroticism.

The first recorded owner of Paysage (1931) was William Copley, who was an artist in his own right, as well as a friend and patron of many Surrealists. Whilst his Copley Galleries in Beverly Hills was a short-lived project, it staged several now-legendary exhibitions. Copley’s impressive art collection contained notable examples by the most prominent Surrealists. Part of his collection was sold at an auction held in New York in 1979, while the present work was acquired by the legendary dealer Alexander Iolas before passing to a private collection.