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 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.