La Machine à coudre

Category

Technique

Date

Dimensions

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Proof(s) of authenticity

State of conservation

Framing

Location

Description

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) "The Sewing Machine" (1975) from the series "Homage to Leonardo da Vinci". Etching and drypoint with stencil coloring on watermarked Arches wove paper, hand-signed in pencil lower right and numbered in pencil lower left. This impression belongs to the regular edition of 450 numbered impressions, forming part of a total tirage of 530 impressions with various edition designations. Published in Paris by Éditions de Francony and Graphiques Internationales and printed by Atelier Rigal. The work is listed in the catalogues raisonnés by Ralf Michler and Lutz W. Löpsinger as no. 811, and by Albert Field as no. 75-8D. The sheet measures 56 × 76 cm and is presented in very good overall condition.

Created as part of the "Homage to Leonardo da Vinci" series, a portfolio of twelve prints devoted to inventions and the scientific imagination, "The Sewing Machine" establishes a dialogue between Leonardo’s fascination with mechanics and Dalí’s interest in objects transformed through dreams.

A monumental sewing machine occupies the center of the composition, its circular structure and mechanical components becoming the stage for an enigmatic, theatrical scene. A female figure dressed in red stands above the machine as though controlling its operation, while another elongated figure unfolds across the left-hand side, carried by forms that evoke fabric, sails, and waves. In the background, the marine horizon and broad expanses of blue establish a sense of calm that is immediately disrupted by the floating, organic forms spreading across the sky.

Dalí combines the precise linear qualities of printmaking with a delicate palette dominated by blues, whites, ochres, and red accents. The fluid contours, deliberately distorted proportions, and transformation of the machine into an almost living organism give the image its distinctly Surrealist character. The industrial object is no longer merely functional; it becomes a sensual and mysterious mental construction in which mechanical invention, the human figure, and the Mediterranean landscape converge.

With its immediately recognizable subject, refined chromatic balance, and place within one of Dalí’s major graphic series of the 1970s, "The Sewing Machine" is a particularly evocative example of the artist’s reinterpretation of Leonardo da Vinci’s legacy through his own distinctive visual universe.

Provenance

Private collection, France

Bibliography

- Ralf Michler and Lutz W. Löpsinger, Salvador Dalí: Catalogue Raisonné of Etchings and Mixed-Media Prints, 1924–1980, Prestel-Verlag, Munich / New York, 1994, listed as no. 811.
- Albert Field, The Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dalí, Salvador Dalí Archives, Astoria, New York, 1996, listed as no. 75-8D.