Le Cannibalisme des objets (The Cannibalism of Objects), 1933

Le Cannibalisme des objets (1933) centers on one of the most charged motifs in Dalí's Surrealist vocabulary, a woman's high-heeled shoe. At the center of the present composition, it floats surrounded by two hands, while a spoon sits posed at the ready above. While overhead a dense, swirling mass coalesces into a human form, seemingly sucking matter from the interior of the shoe into its mouth. In the present work, Dalí has created an image that is simultaneously erotic, violent, absurd and unsettling. The title, inscribed by the artist in the upper left corner, describes that the act depicted is not ordinary destruction but a very particular kind of self-consumption, in which objects turn on themselves and devour their own meaning.

The present work was acquired directly from the artist by its first owner, Prince Jean-Louis de Faucigny Lucinge, who was among a circle of twelve Parisian collectors known as the Zodiac group. Formed at the end of 1932, the group provided Dalí with a guaranteed monthly income in exchange for works on paper and paintings, offering the financial foundation that allowed him to work with exceptional freedom and productivity during this pivotal period.