Les Songes Drolatiques de Pantagruel 08 (1973) - AP - Salvadore Dali

Lithography on Paper

Hand-signed by Dali at the bottom right

AP (Artist Proof) at the bottom left
Dimension: 76 × 54 cm (without frame)

“Les Songes Drolatiques de Pantagruel” (Pantagruel's Comical Dreams) by Salvador Dali, 1973, lithograph of gouaches and felt pencil on Japanese paper.

This Artwork comes from the collection created by Salvador Dalí, which consists of a series of phantasmagorical representations for the novels written in the 1530s by François Rabelais, narrating the adventures of two giants - Gargantua and his son Pantagruel - “The Horrible and Terrifying Deeds and Words of the Very Renowned Pantagruel King of the Dipsodes, Son of the Great Giant Gargantua”. This book of tall tales, commonly known as Pantagruel, is chronologically the second volume of a series that follows the outlandish escapades of a family of giants.

The Surrealists examination of the human psyche and dreams reached new apices in the works of Salvador Dalí. In his “Songes” Dalí explored a deeply erotic dimension, studying the writings of Richard von Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902) and Sigmund Freud, and conceiving what he called the “paranoiac-critical method” to abet his creative process.

This sort of illustration on one-dimensional fields of color offers a sense of animation common to storytelling comics. “Les Songes” prove that Dalí was fearless and unapologetic. Even in the most vile, obscene subject matter—Dalí manages to find the sophistication in its humor. When it comes to Dalí, nothing is out of bounds.

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