Salvador Dali Woman Aflame Bronze Sculpture

Salvador Dali bronze “Woman Aflame” Large Surrealist sculpture. Artist signed bronze edition 159 / 350 cast in 1981.
Salvador Dali "Femme En FLamme"

Editor: Camblest Ltd
Foundry: Venturi Arte

This sculpture recalls Dalí’s 1937 oil painting Burning Giraffe, and unites two of his favourite motifs: female figure with drawers and fire. The female figure here is composed largely of flames. These inextinguishable flames represent burning passion spreading from the feet upwards. Rising flames modelled in bronze give the impression that the whole figure is consumed by fire and seems to have a life of its own. The woman’s physical appearance acquires a new perspective: crutches support her arched body and she is compartmentalized by drawers. Influenced by Freud’s theories, drawers were used by Dalí to symbolize the unconscious. As Dalí once said “The human body is full of secret drawers that can only be opened by psychoanalysis”. Originally the figure was completely curved backwards. Mr Beniamino Levi recounts Dalí throwing the wax model to the floor in a moment of rage when he suggested straightening the bust slightly. Without Gala’s help in reasoning with Dalí, the sculpture would not exist as it does today in this expressive, intimate form.
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol Catalan: Spanish 11 May 1904 -23 January 1989 was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in his work.

Born in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain, Dalí received his formal education in fine arts in Madrid. Influenced by Impressionism and the Renaissance masters from a young age he became increasingly attracted to Cubism and avant-garde movements. He moved closer to Surrealism in the late 1920s and joined the Surrealist group in 1929, soon becoming one of its leading exponents. His best-known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in August 1931, and is one of the most famous Surrealist paintings. Dalí lived in France throughout the Spanish Civil War (1936 to 1939) before leaving for the United States in 1940 where he achieved commercial success. He returned to Spain in 1948 where he announced his return to the Catholic faith and developed his nuclear mysticism style, based on his interest in classicism, mysticism, and recent scientific developments.

Dalí's artistic repertoire included painting, graphic arts, film, sculpture, design and photography, at times in collaboration with other artists. He also wrote fiction, poetry, autobiography, essays and criticism. Major themes in his work include dreams, the subconscious, sexuality, religion, science and his closest personal relationships. To the dismay of those who held his work in high regard, and to the irritation of his critics, his eccentric and ostentatious public behaviour often drew more attention than his artwork. His public support for the Francoist regime, his commercial activities and the quality and authenticity of some of his late works have also been controversial. His life and work were an important influence on other Surrealists, pop art and contemporary artists such as Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst.

There are two major museums devoted to Salvador Dalí's work: the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, Spain, and the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.