Salvador Dali, Hommage à Leonardo da Vinci - Le Téléphone, 1975
When it comes to Dali's iconography, two images come to mind before all others: the melting clock and the lobster telephone.
This surrealist masterpiece appears repeatedly throughout Dali's oeuvre and made its first appearance in a drawing commissioned by the magazine American Weekly in 1935. Invited to express his impressions of life in New York, he created "NEW YORK DREAM - MAN FINDS LOBSTER IN PLACE OF PHONE". In Dictionnaire Abrégé du Surréalisme (1938) Dalí included the entry 'TÉLÉPHONE APHRODISIAQUE' which is accompanied by a small drawing of a telephone, its receiver replaced by a lobster surrounded by flies. The iconic sculpture owned by the Tate was produced in the same year.
Dali found numerous sexual connotations in the lobster, embracing its reputation as a famous aphrodisiac. He felt the same way about the telephone, and by combining the two he produced a work that was both entirely surrealistic in its combination of unexpected objects and also entirely logical when considered within the framework of Dali's ideas. By placing the lobster's tail (where its genitalia are located) directly over the mouthpiece, he makes a wry observation on the nature of desire and its place in daily life.
This print was created in 1975 as part of the Homage to Leonardo da Vinci portfolio. Dali had maintained a lifelong fascination with the Renaissance master, once writing that he was "...the greatest master of painting, a soul that knew how to study, to invent, to create with ardour, passion and energy, which was how he lived his whole life. His paintings reflect his constant love, dedication and passion for his work." He also admired his mastery of science, as he felt that every true artist should be well read in the sciences.
Like da Vinci, Dali was a polymath whose creativity knew no bounds. His career saw him work as a painter, sculptor, printmaker, illustrator, scenographer, director, fashion designer, graphic designer and creator of album covers, among other things. It's no surprise that he felt such a connection to his illustrious predecessor.
The portfolio contains numerous references to modern technological innovations and is a celebration of knowledge and experimentation. It exalts in the same spirit that pervades da Vinci's famous notebooks, but with a profound surrealistic twist that manages to be playful, bizarre, sinister and joyous all at once.
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