Robert Descharnes, The World of Salvador Dalí (New York: Harper & Row, 1962), 167.Robert Descharnes, The World of Salvador Dali (New York: 1962), 167.Leslie Lieber, “The Mystery of Venus’s Arms,” Los Angeles Times (Apr.Coates, “The Art Galleries: Dali–Despiau–Art Young,” The New Yorker (Jan. Chapman Reference Number 2005.424 Copyright © Salvador Dalí, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York,Ģ018 Extended information about this artwork Made 1936 Medium Painted plaster with metal pulls and mink pom-poms Dimensions 98 × 32.5 × 34 cm (38 5/8 × 12 3/4 × 13 3/8 in.) Credit Line Through prior gift of Mrs. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. Status On View, Gallery 289 Department Modern Art Artist Salvador Dalí Title Venus de Milo with Drawers Place Spain (Artist's nationality) Dateĭates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud, Dalì envisioned the idea of a cabinet transformed into a female figure, which he called an “anthropomorphic cabinet.” Venus de Milo with Drawers is the culmination of his explorations into the deep, psychological mysteries of sexual desire, which are symbolized in the figure of the ancient goddess of love. For the Surrealists, the best means of provoking this revolution of consciousness was a special kind of sculpture that, as Dalí explained in a 1931 essay, was “absolutely useless … and created wholly for the purpose of materializing in a fetishistic way, with maximum tangible reality, ideas and fantasies of a delirious character.” Dalí’s essay, which drew upon the ideas of Marcel Duchamp’s readymades, inaugurated object making as an integral part of Surrealist activities. The combination of cool painted plaster and silky mink tufts illustrates the Surrealist interest in uniting different elements to spark a new reality. (Also missing now is the metal jewelry scholars say decorated the statue’s arms, head and ears in ancient times, as well as the colored paint on its face, hair and drapery.) Speculation remains about the Venus de Milo’s original pose, although evidence suggests its once held an apple in its left hand.Among Salvador Dalí’s many memorable works, perhaps none is more deeply embedded in the popular imagination than Venus de Milo with Drawers, a half-size plaster reproduction of the famous marble statue (130 /120 BC Musée du Louvre, Paris), altered with pom-pom-decorated drawers in the figure’s forehead, breasts, stomach, abdomen, and left knee. But, in fact, most scholars today believe the sculpture’s arms already were missing when it was found by Voutier and the farmer. Originally carved in two blocks of marble then fitted together, the statue stands 6 feet 7 inches from head to toe and is the creation of an artist named Alexandros of Antioch, about whom little is known.Īs for the Venus de Milo’s missing limbs, there long have been claims they were broken off in 1820 during a fight on the shore of Melos, as French and Turkish sailors vied for possession of the artwork. Now, however, the Venus de Milo is thought to have been produced around 100 B.C., during a later period known as the Hellenistic age. The Louvre initially promoted the Venus de Milo as a masterpiece from the Greek classical era. It arrived in France in 1821 and was presented to Louis XVIII, who donated it to the Louvre Museum, where it remains today. Voutier told his superiors about the discovery and the French acquired the artwork, which came to be known as the Venus de Milo, for a relatively modest sum. Recognizing the statue as potentially significant, the Frenchman, with the farmer’s help, unearthed its lower half not far away. Upon investigating, Voutier learned the farmer had located the top half of a statue of a woman. While digging near the ruins of an ancient theater, Voutier noticed that a local farmer, who’d been removing stones from a nearby wall for use as building materials, seemed to have found something inside the wall. An ensign in the French navy, Olivier Voutier, whose ship was anchored in the harbor at Melos, decided to kill time one day by going ashore and searching for antiquities. The artwork was discovered in 1820 on the Aegean island of Melos (also called Milos). One of the most famous examples of ancient Greek sculpture, the Venus de Milo is immediately recognizable by its missing arms and popularly believed to represent Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, who was known to the Romans as Venus.
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