'Alice in Wonderland', 1977, bronze, partly polished, partly green patinated, dimensions 92,5 cm x 45 cm x 20 cm, signed in the casting, numbered 35/350, with foundry stamp venturi arte, publisher's stamp 'Jemelton', residues of a sticker, partly slight traces of corrosion, literature: Wvz. Descharnes 624, with ill. p. 243.
The world-famous story of ''Alice in Wonderland'', was written as a children's book by the British writer Lewis Caroll and first published in 1845, inspiring Salvador Dali in watercolours, drawings, paintings, prints and sculptures, such as our figure cast in bronze. The sculpture, which shows Alice jumping rope, is complemented by the crutch often present in his works. Inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses, in which Daphne transforms into a laurel tree, the artist here seems to capture a moment in which the figure of Alice changes: The head and hands are virtually overgrown by floral forms. Even the greenish discolouration on the figure's skirt, which can certainly occur in a bronze, is intensified by the patina and contributes to the effect described. Thus, the depiction, which at first glance seems cheerful and full of life, seems to take on an eerie twist. The dreamlike pictorial visions form the surrealist work for which Salvador Dali is so well known. After studying at the Academy in Madrid, he orientated himself on influences of the pittura metafisica and psychoanalysis according to Sigmund Freud. The Spanish artist travelled to Paris, and there joined the Surrealist movement, of which he became the main representative.
