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Salvador Dali (1904 - 1989)
Etude pour Dormeuse, cheval, lion, invisibles
(Study for Invisible Sleeping Woman, Horse, Lion)
  • colored pencils on paper, 1930
  • executed on stationery from the Hotel du Chateau de Carry-le-Rouet
  • paper size 8½" x 10¾" (21.7 x 27.3 cm.)
This artwork is accompanied by a letter from Robert Descharnes, dated 20 January, 2004 stating:

Cet important petit dessin a ete execute en fevrier 1930.
Son vrai titre est <<Etude pour Dormeuse, cheval, lion, invisibles>>.


(This important small drawing was executed in February 1930.
The correct title is <<Study for Invisible Sleeping Woman, Horse, Lion>>.)
Salvador Dali - Etude pour Dormeuse, Cheval, Lion, Invisibles - 1930 colored pencils on paper enlarge in new window
This drawing was executed at a critical period in the life and career
of Salvador Dali.  A brief timeline of the events of this period:
May, 1929
Salvador Dali, intent on establishing himself, makes his first trip to Paris. Belgian art dealer Camille Goemans shows interest in Dali's work and introduces him one evening to leading surrealist poet Paul Eluard. Goemans offers Dali a one man show in Paris in November.
Jun, 1929
Dali's father negotiates a contract with Goemans on behalf of his son.
Jul, 1929
Goemans travels to Cadaques, Spain, accompanied by Paul and Gala Eluard and Rene and Georgette Magritte to meet Dali in his native element.
Sep, 1929 - Paul Eluard and the Magrittes return to Paris. Gala remains in Cadaques with Dali until the month's end when she returns to Paris carrying the recently completed painting The Lugubrious Game and the manuscript notes of Dali's "Paranoiac-critical" theory that would eventually be published as La Femme Visible.
Oct, 1929 - Dali, hard at work in Cadaques in preparation for his show, paints several early masterpieces including Accommodations of Desire, The Enigma of Desire, and The Great Masturbator. Gala promotes Dali, his work, and his ideas to Andre Breton and the Surrealists. The film Un Chien Andalou, co-written by Dali and director Luis Bunuel premieres at Studio 28 in Montmartre.
Nov, 1929 - Dali arrives in Paris a few days before the scheduled opening of his show on November 20. The Surrealists, in need of revitalization, eagerly embrace Dali and he is officially inducted into the group. Dali and Gala commit to each other and elope to Barcelona two days before the opening of his show. Dali returns to Figueres at month's end to see his family and Gala returns to Paris.
Dec, 1929 - Dali learns from Luis Bunuel that his exhibition has been an extraordinary success with all pictures sold and The Lugubrious Game purchased by the wealthy and influential Vicomte de Noailles. Dali's father, outraged upon discovering the existence of an artwork in which the young artist provocatively proclaims that he occasionally spits on the portrait of his dead mother, banishes his son from the family household.
Jan, 1930 - Dali, having shaved his head in mourning of his situation, leaves for Paris two weeks after the break with his father. Gala and Dali live in Eluard's new apartment while Eluard takes up residence in a hotel. Dali meets many new collectors of his work and begins to attain prominence within the Surrealist group.
Feb, 1930 - The proceeds of the sold out exhibition place Dali and Gala in a much improved financial situation. Dali is intent on working in solitude and incorporating his "Paranoiac-critical" method into his paintings. The couple travel to the French Riviera and live at the Hotel du Chateau at Carry-le-Rouet for two months. Dali begins serious work on his first two multiple image paintings. The first, The Invisible Man was left unfinished while the second, Invisible Sleeping Woman, Horse, Lion becomes Dali's first successfully completed "Paranoiac-critical" painting. The artist was to paint three versions of this pivotal painting, one of which was destroyed in the riot that took place in the lobby of the theater screening Bunuel and Dali's second film L'Age d'Or.
The Southern Facade of the Hotel du Chateau de Carry-le-Rouet, 1930
Letter from Dali, while at the Hotel du Chateau de Carry-le-Rouet, written on the same hotel stationery to the Vicomte Charles de Noailles.  Noailles was to be the purchaser of one of the three canvases Dali completed of Invisible Sleeping Woman, Horse, Lion.

The Southern Facade of the Hotel du Chateau de Carry-le-Rouet, 1930
The Hotel du Chateau de Carry-le-Rouet

Salvador Dali - Invisible Sleeping Woman, Horse, Lion - 1930 oil on canvas
Invisible Sleeping Woman, Horse, Lion - 1930 oil on canvas
Salvador Dali - Invisible Sleeping Woman, Horse, Lion - 1930 oil on canvas
Invisible Sleeping Woman, Horse, Lion - 1930 oil on canvas

Salvador Dali - Invisible Sleeping Woman, Horse, Lion - 1930 oil on canvas
Paranoiac Woman-Horse - 1930 oil on canvas, (collection Pompidou)

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