SALVADOR DALÍ I DOMÈNECH (Figueras, Girona, 1904... Lot 32

SALVADOR DALÍ I DOMÈNECH (Figueras, Girona, 1904 - 1989). "Winged Triton", ca. 1972. Bronze sculpture on marble base, example A 289/300. Signed and justified at the bottom. Certificate of authenticity issued by Exmundart enclosed. Measurements: 22 x 11 x 11 cm. Dalí represented the marine god, son of Poseidon, gliding over the waters, dispensing with the company with which we are accustomed to seeing him in classical iconography (accompanied by horses and nereids, surrounded by dolphins and playing the conch shell with which he announced storms). Triton possessed the gift of prophecy, which is why he was often the guide of the great mythological heroes. Dalí, on the other hand, focused on the character's vulnerability, emphasising the sensation of instability produced by the waves on the hero's flesh. In his early years, Dalí discovered contemporary painting during a family visit to Cadaqués, where he met the family of Ramon Pichot, an artist who travelled regularly to Paris. Following Pichot's advice, Dalí began to study painting with Juan Núñez. In 1922, Dalí stayed at the famous Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid to begin studying Fine Arts at the San Fernando Academy. However, before his final exams in 1926, he was expelled for claiming that there was no one there fit to examine him. That same year Dalí travelled to Paris for the first time. There he met Picasso, and established certain formal characteristics that were to become distinctive of all his work from then on. His language absorbed the influences of many artistic styles, from classical academicism to the most groundbreaking avant-garde. At that time, the painter grew an eye-catching moustache in imitation of Velázquez's, which was to become his personal trademark for the rest of his life. In 1929, Dalí collaborated with Luis Buñuel in the making of "An Andalusian Dog", which depicted scenes typical of the surrealist imaginary. In August of the same year he met his muse and future wife Gala. During this period Dalí held regular exhibitions in both Barcelona and Paris, and joined the Surrealist group based in the Montparnasse district of Paris. His work greatly influenced the direction of Surrealism for the next two years, and he was acclaimed as the creator of the paranoiac-critical method, which was said to help access the subconscious by releasing creative artistic energies. The painter landed in America in 1934, thanks to the art dealer Julian Levy. Following his first solo exhibition in New York his international reputation was definitively consolidated, and from then on he showed his work and gave lectures all over the world. Most of his production is housed in the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueras, followed by the collection of the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg (Florida), the Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Salvador Dalí Gallery in Pacific Palisades (California), the Espace Dalí in Montmartre (Paris) and the Dalí Universe in London.