Salvador Dali (1904-1989) Couple with heads full of clouds

Salvador Dali (1904-1989)Couple aux têtes pleines de nuages (Couple with heads full of clouds).Diptych, granolithography in 14 colors, according to the 1936 original, which is now on permanent display at the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam.Publisher: Atelier Latour, Martigny, Switzerland, 1990, hand-described "E.A." p.d.Total size of diptych: 118 x 86 cm.Dimensions of the male figure: 85.5 x 66.5 cmDimensions of the female figure 78.5 x 65.5 cmHeat bent wooden frames, handmade.The planned edition of 1200 pieces and 20 E.A. was commissioned by Salvador Dali. Atelier Latour continued the work after Dali's death in 1989. Only 200-300 pieces of the planned 1200 pieces were made, as the master Latour died shortly after Dali's death and his heirs closed the Atelier.Original hand-signed certificate from the publisher Les Ateliers Latour.Provenance:The featured work, along with several others, remained in the Latour family estate in Martigny, Switzerland, for more than 30 years. In 2022 they were found and purchased by a Dutch collector and Salvador Dali enthusiast. In 2024, the diptych was acquired by a collector from Poland.Couple aux têtes pleines de nuages - this work takes us into the middle of Dali's surrealist vision. The two panels, though separate, form a coherent whole, showing a desert landscape where time and space are distorted. Classic Surrealist motifs: clouds, crossing the heads of the characters, symbolize the transience of thoughts and emotions, while scattered rocks and distorted trees reflect the anxiety and chaos gripping the world at the time. All these paintings refer to certain Freudian currents, often seen in Dali's key works.This is one of Dalí's surreal masterpieces, revealing his two great passions - Freudian psychology and his great muse, his beloved Gala. Their tumultuous relationship, full of controversy and obsession, but also full of love and mutual fascination, is reflected in this work.Dalí painted this masterpiece diptych with a profound metaphor of hidden meaning at a time when the world around him was plunging into conflict and the Spanish Civil War was beginning.The work depicts Dali and his wife Gala, formed only by the contours of the frame, which Dali personally designed. The composition of the work and the arrangement of the heads are borrowed from the famous painting Angel of the Lord painted by one of Dali's favorite artists, French painter Jean François Millet. The painting depicts a pair of villagers saying evening prayer in a field. Dali and Gala have adopted the same attitudes seen in Millet's painting.The background of Dali's painting is the landscape of Cape Creus, which appears in many of the artist's paintings (e.g. Persistence of Memory, 1931). The sky in their heads opens up over the beach at Port Lligat.Also contributing to the great fame ofCouple with Heads Full of Clouds was the unconventional form of the work with cut-out silhouettes of figuresThis work was created during the turbulent period of the Spanish Civil War, at the heart of the Surrealist movement, of which Dalí was one of the leading representatives. It was then, in 1929, that he met Gala,his muse and lifelong partner. Their tumultuous relationship, full of controversy and obsession, was reflected in this work.Dali's adoration for his partner and muse was so great that he signed many of his most important works, including Couple aux têtes pleines de nuages, "Gala Salvador Dalí."