Salvador Dali's painting Original Sin (1941), acquired by the Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation in 2001 and practically unknown to the general public, is now on display in the Hall of Treasures of the Dalí Theater-Museum in Figueres.
Initially, this wonderful work of a relatively small size (50 X 65 cm) was bought by an American named Luther Green, after which it belonged to the famous poet, collector and good friend of Salvador Dali, Edward James, then to the Davlyn gallery, which, in fact, sold it to the Gala-Salvador Foundation - the artist's property manager.
The painting is really good - I would even say beautiful, especially when you see it in the original. Dali demonstrates impeccable technical skill and that same craving for hyperrealism, which will culminate in the famous "Basket of Bread" (1945), permanently exhibited in the same "Treasure Hall" of the Theater-Museum.
Our tourists note with particular delight how naturalistically Dali portrayed this pair of knocked down, trampled and almost out of shape boots - but isn't worth admiration the female foot with bluish veins, which, when you look at the canvas in the original, even seem to pulsate?
All the main characters of the biblical story about the fall of man and the expulsion from Eden are presented here in the most graphic way: the curious Eve (the foot is female), the Serpent-tempter, which wraps around her slender leg in the form of an elegant decoration, and Adam (the shoes are male !), the severity of the fall of which is presented especially clearly through the deplorable state in which the shoes are.
Especially brilliantly, in my opinion, Salvador Dali depicts the lost paradise - leaving the backdrop of the canvas completely empty. That is, in other words, Dali depicts this lost Eden without depicting anything at all - but this seeming paradox is quite natural and logical: after all, paradise is LOST, a person who has tasted of the tree of knowledge is deprived of it forever!
It is interesting to note that the Faberge bracelet in the shape of a snake, which we see in the painting, will reappear later, in 1945, adorning the hand of the artist's wife in the famous painting "Galarina", also displayed in the "Treasure Hall" of the Theater-Museum.
Dali was very fond of this bracelet, and it is a pity that a few years later, in one of the hotels in California, this wonderful piece of jewelry was stolen right from the room along with other Gala jewelry. (Read the original text in Russian)
Read more:
Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening
Geopolitical Child Watching the Birth of a New Man by Salvador Dali
The authors of the article are Sergei Zakharov and his wife, colleague and comrad-in-arms, Tatiana - writers and tour guides. You can learn more about our books and buy them in the "Where and what to read" section. We invite you to our tours of the Dali museums in Catalonia. Revealing secrets, debunking myths, telling the truth - we promise full and deep immersion in the amazing Universe of Salvador Dali!
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