Salvador Dalí
Vénus de Milo aux tiroirs, 1936-1964
EXHIBITION Surreal Things: Surrealism & Design
Bronze and fur, 98 x 32.5 x 34 cm
Inventory number: BEK 1467 (MK)
Apart from paintings, Salvador Dalí also made objects, like this 'Venus de Milo with Drawers' from 1936. For this he used a small model of the famous Venus de Milo to be found in the Louvre in Paris. Venus, geoddess of love, symbolizes the calssical female ideal of beauty. The drawers, which are slightly open, are positioned in crucial places like the swell of the breasts, midriff and belly.
The drawer-knobs, made of white fluffy fur, are just asking to be stroked and cautiosly pullen open to reveal Venus' inner recesses. The drawers are symbols of repressed secuality, which according to Dalí stems directly from pangs of Christian conscience. Dalí, like almost all Surrealists, was an admirer of Freud's theories. The motif of a woman with open drawers also appears in his paintings.
