Untitled

Throughout his prolific career, Salvador Dalí turned to works by Flemish and Italian masters to influence his groundbreaking surrealist compositions. Here, Dalí assembles a pastiche of aquatic motifs within a deserted landscape to create a mysterious scene that eludes a clear narrative explanation. A large sphere, gracefully rendered in brown and purple watercolors, evokes the famous billowing, amorphous fabric draping in Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam. Dalí adds a sperm-like tail—perhaps a further play on the “creation of man”—and a dragon’s face to animate his creature. Guiding the aquatic monstrosity is a mermaid, her blank eyes and wild hair reminiscent of Rubens’ Medusa. Together, the sea creatures glide over a pool of bathing beauties seen from front, back, and side view; their similarity in appearance evokes a figural study of a model from multiple angles.This quixotic drawing arrived at the Johnson Museum sans title. Without Dalí’s explanation to guide us, the narrative or purpose for this scene must be interpolated through vigorous research and contextualization within the scope of the artist’s projects. Is this, perhaps, a scene of Ulysses sailing over the Sirens? A lost design for Dalí’s tarot cards? Or, perhaps, a scene of pure fantasy: an exercise in manipulating Renaissance and Baroque iconography into something unrecognizable and unique? The Johnson Museum looks forward to future generations of students and scholars working together to further understand Dalí’s intentions. (“FIGURE/STUDY: Drawings from the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art,” text by Brittany R. R. Rubin and presented at Carlton Hobbs, LLC January 25-February 2, 2019)