Salvador Dalí, Venus à la giraffe
The sculpture depicts an abstracted woman, draped from hips to feet, with a striking feature: her head is placed on a disproportionately long, textured neck, which appears larger than her body. This distortion, earning her the nickname "giraffe," is typical of the surrealist movement to which the artist belonged.
The upper body, in contrast to these surrealist elements, is inspired by classical representations of Venus from the Hellenistic period. The woman is armless, and her breasts are exposed. From her abdomen, just below the navel, protrudes a long, empty drawer, supported by a freestanding stool. The drawer, with a knob at the end, seems to symbolize an inner world, a recurring motif in the artist's work. The drawer's position, in the woman's belly, can be interpreted as a reference to the origin of life.
Dalí's sculptures, part of the 20th-century surrealist movement, are often described as manifestations of the subconscious. Dalí found in sculpture a perfect way to make tangible the dreams and inner thoughts he previously expressed in his paintings. The contrast between hard materials and the unreal, dreamlike concepts they depict fascinated him. The drawer, a recurring symbol in Dalí's work, is thought by many to represent the inner life, the invisible thoughts and feelings that exist within a person.
The use of hybrid beings, like the woman with a giraffe neck, is typical of Dalí. It allows him to symbolically showcase the interpretative power of dreams. The ‘Venus à la Giraffe’ intrigues with its asymmetrical and unexpected forms, and with the unique blend of surrealist and classical elements that converge in a single artwork. This piece is, therefore, a powerful embodiment of both the dream world and classical antiquity.