Executed circa 1932.



Dalí’s masterful skills as an etcher and engraver are evident in this proof
for his etching Le Revolver a cheveux
blancs (The White-Haired Revolver). The present composition was created
as a illustration to accompany Surrealist leader André Breton’s 1932
collection of poems by the same name which focused on themes of love, desire,
and the unconscious. Dalí’s contribution reflects a moment of deep connection
with Breton, having met each other in 1929, and his deep immersion in the
Surrealist movement.



In the present work a multitude of long, sinuous lines coalesce to form a landscape
that appears tantalizingly close yet unreachable. In the center of the
composition stands a single cypress. Throughout Dalí’s oeuvre the cypress was
a powerful symbol for the artist, laden with both historic connotations of
mourning overlaid with an eroticism in his own complex personal iconography. While
in foreground, a female nude is depicted in such a manner that her movement
into the picture plane is a mystery– is she entering or exiting? She and her motivations
are unknowable yet confoundingly her positioning in the work makes her the
most accessible element—a Dalían contradiction which leaves more questions
than answers.