Private Collection, France (probably acquired in the 1950s)
Private Collection, London (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, November 5, 2009, lot 260)
Acquired at the above sale

The work is in very good condition. The sheet is laid down on thin cardboard. At the center of the work are a number of small creases resulting in pigment loss (these have been mitigated with inpainting). There is a small water stain at the lower right corner. Colors are bright and fresh, the medium is thickly applied.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

At the end of a significant decade during which his fame grew to international proportions, Dalí was asked to design a pavilion for the 1939 New York World's Fair on the theme of The Dream of Venus. A product of a partnership between Dalí and the architect Ian Woodner, the Surrealist pavilion Dream of Venus intended to materialize a Dalinian scene with an innovative combination of media including sculpture, sound mixing and performance art. Despite the promise of complete imaginative freedom, Dalí was forbidden from placing a replica of Botticelli's Venus outside of the pavilion, with a fish-head instead of her own (see fig. 1). Inside, however, the pavilion was filled with the elements of a Surrealist fantasy, complete with melting clocks and pools, within which women dressed as mermaids, embodying Venus, swam and played. Revered as a symbol of love, beauty and fertility since classical times, Venus was early established as one of Dalí's favorite subjects: Robert Descharnes writes "It was Venus he took apart and re-assembled in his carefully observed early paintings of women, in which the goddess is generally seen from the rear. He painted women in the style of Seurat, Picasso or Matisse; he painted them in his cubist phase, in classical mood, in pre-Surrealist manner, and on, till the time came when his Venus invariably bore the features of Gala" (Robert Descharnes & Gilles Neret, Salvador Dalí 1904-1989, The Paintings, Volume I, 1904-1946, Cologne, 1994, pp. 69-70). Many of the formative elements of Dalí's signature style appear in this scale model of the work, part of a series of preparatory works for the Dream of Venus project. Dalí's desire to create a Surrealist space is evident in the perspectival illusion of the receding landscape, visible beyond the crumbling brick wall of the building. Shapes and geological formations cast long shadows to fill the landscape, while a stone Venus with biomorphic limbs serves as the focal point of the work. The multimedia project concluded an important decade for Dalí, serving as evidence of his inventive nature and global appeal.



Nicolas, Olivier and the late Robert Descharnes have confirmed the authenticity of this work.