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Lot Essay
Robert and Nicolas Descharnes have confirmed the authenticity of this painting.
Executed in 1959, the year after Dalí had formalized his union with Gala Eluard, Jeune femme dans un paysage recalls the artist's contemporary society portraiture with its vibrant coloration and smooth, glamorous rendering. The painting's highly unusual format and corresponding pose--horizontal and sheer profile--and the markedly prominent surrealist trappings suggest Dalí's works of the 1930s, however, the forms playing carefully off and, in some cases, doubling one another.
The expansive, arid landscape to which Dalí returned throughout his career complements the sitter's red dress and lustrous blonde hair. Her head is balanced in the sky opposite by the rounded clouds and her form loosely doubled in the horizonal cliffs, namely her head, protruding bust and extended arm and crutch. This surrealist crutch--the enigmatic talisman of many of Dalí's 1930s works, its emerald ornament here matching the gem on the sitter's bust--supporting her limp wrist and the distant rock's perverse, irrational shadow--seemingly cast into the sun--further recall these earlier surrealist compositions.
Jeune femme dans un paysage was executed as an illustration for Margaret Cousin's short story "The House" published in the July 1959 issue of McCall's.
Executed in 1959, the year after Dalí had formalized his union with Gala Eluard, Jeune femme dans un paysage recalls the artist's contemporary society portraiture with its vibrant coloration and smooth, glamorous rendering. The painting's highly unusual format and corresponding pose--horizontal and sheer profile--and the markedly prominent surrealist trappings suggest Dalí's works of the 1930s, however, the forms playing carefully off and, in some cases, doubling one another.
The expansive, arid landscape to which Dalí returned throughout his career complements the sitter's red dress and lustrous blonde hair. Her head is balanced in the sky opposite by the rounded clouds and her form loosely doubled in the horizonal cliffs, namely her head, protruding bust and extended arm and crutch. This surrealist crutch--the enigmatic talisman of many of Dalí's 1930s works, its emerald ornament here matching the gem on the sitter's bust--supporting her limp wrist and the distant rock's perverse, irrational shadow--seemingly cast into the sun--further recall these earlier surrealist compositions.
Jeune femme dans un paysage was executed as an illustration for Margaret Cousin's short story "The House" published in the July 1959 issue of McCall's.