SALVADOR DALÍ I DOMÈNECH (Figueras, Girona, 1904... Lot 33

SALVADOR DALÍ I DOMÈNECH (Figueras, Girona, 1904 - 1989). "Saint Narcissus of the Flies", ca. 1974. In gilded bronze, copy A 289/300. Signed and justified at the bottom. Marble pedestal. Certificate of authenticity issued by Exmundart enclosed. Measurements: 20 x 10,5 x 11,5 cm (measurements with pedestal). In his "Narcissus of the Flies" Dalí respected the traditional iconography of Saint Narcissus. According to Diejasa's book "Sculptures", "the saint is represented with miter and crozier and a large symbolic fly appears on the chasuble. Dalí had been fascinated by insects since he was a child. The world of flies, bees and other invertebrates was the main theme or disturbing element in many of his works. In "Diary of a Genius" Dalí stated that flies were "the muses of the Mediterranean", as they brought inspiration to the Greek philosophers who spent their dead hours lying in the sun, covered with flies. A famous event occurred in 1285, when foreign troops invaded the city of Gerona where Saint Narcissus was buried, after having suffered a bloody martyrdom in his episcopal see in 307 A.D. While they were desecrating his tomb, an unusual swarm of flies and other flying bugs emerged from the tumulus, attacking the warriors who, terrified, fled from Gerona. During 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 would 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 energies. The painter landed in America in 1934, thanks to the art dealer Julian Levy. As a result of 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. That same year he was subjected to a "surrealist trial" which resulted in his expulsion from the movement, on the grounds that the painter considered that Surrealism could exist in an apolitical context, refusing to commit himself to the ideas of André Breton. To this, Dalí responded with his famous retort, "I am Surrealism". Most of his work 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.