Salvador Dalí

SALVADOR DALÍ I DOMÈNECH (Figueras, Girona, 1904 - 1989).
"Caducée I. 1982.
Patinated bronze and gilded bronze, copy 369/2000.
Signed and numbered.
Attached certificate of authenticity issued by Nicolas Descharnes in 1987.
Measurements: 30 x 13 x 9 cm.

The caduceus, traditionally associated with the god Hermes, is a symbol that represents the communication between the kingdoms and the alchemical transformation. It is a winged staff with two intertwined serpents that Dalí reinterprets by giving it the shape of the serpentine body of a dragon that is reflected in a silver egg. The animal coils around a gnarled trunk with a winged termination. The caduceus is here imbued with a surreal dimension, seeking unpredictable symbioses. The sculpture highlights the relationship between the physical and the spiritual, symbolizing the movement between the earthly and the divine. The egg, for its part, is a symbol of perfection. The dragon is reflected in it, suggesting the collision between opposing forces and duality. It is worth relating this sculpture to the Dalí work on paper "The Caduceus of Mars fed by the Fireball of Jupiter", a title that suggests the fusion of astronomical forces and mythological figures.

Painter and sculptor, Salvador Dalí was one of the leading exponents of the surrealist movement. His work greatly influenced the course of surrealism during the twenties and thirties, being acclaimed as the creator of the paranoiac-critical method, an essential combination of the real with the imaginary. Most of his production is gathered in the Dalí Theater-Museum in Figueras, followed by the collection of the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg (Florida), the Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Salvador Dalí Gallery in Pacific Palisades (California), the Espace Dalí in Montmartre (Paris) or the Dalí Universe in London.