Poster, Salvador Dalí, The Riddle of William Tell

Dimensions: 50 x 70 cm

The riddle of Wilhelm Tell was created the year Hitler and the Nazis took power in Germany. Symbols such as the melting clock in a deserted picture room have become synonymous with a surrealist visual world. A humanoid figure with a large growth from one buttock dominates the picture. At one of its feet is a walnut cradle in which a tiny human is threatened to be crushed. Dalí himself has said that the creature represents his beloved Gala and that the male figure represents Dalí's father, who opposed his son's relationship with the married Gala. However, the facial features and the typical peaked cap bring to mind the Soviet communist leader Lenin. Dalí wanted, as he said, "to photograph the subconscious". The painting is a riddle with many clues, but no answers.

The motif on this poster is a work of art in the collection of Moderna Museet.

Item no.: MOM32

© Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali. Foundation/BUS, Stockholm 2007