Salvador Dali (1904-1989) - Estudio para un sueño (La vida es sueño), 1963/1975

Salvador Dalí (1904–1989)

Study for a Dream (Life is a Dream), 1963/1975

Original copperplate on Arches France paper, made from a composition dated by Dalí in 1963 and published in 1975 within the illustrated edition of Life is a Dream, by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, published by Editorial Subirana, Barcelona. (Lockport Street Gallery⁠)

The composition represents a fantastical crowned figure, identifiable with Segismund’s universe, the protagonist of Calderón’s work, accompanied by zoomorphic forms, birds and fish executed with Dalí’s characteristic nervous and spontaneous linework.

Signed and dated “Dalí 1963” on the print in the lower margin of the composition.

The copy preserves the complete editorial bifolium, with its original central fold, margins with filigree and the ARCHES FRANCE watermark clearly visible when held to light. The small annotations next to the fold apparently correspond to editorial or imposition marks and should not be interpreted as edition numbering.

Title: Study for a Dream / Study for a Dream
Series/publication: Life is a Dream, Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Subject date: 1963
Edition date: 1975
Techniques: etching
Support: Arches France paper with watermark
Signature: signed and dated on the plate “Dalí 1963”
Publisher: Editorial Subirana, Barcelona
Reference: Michler & Löpsinger, Catalogue Raisonné of Etchings and Mixed-Media Prints, no. 805, pp. 243–244.
Image size: approximately 30 × 22.5 cm.
Bifolio: approximately 38 × 56 cm open
Condition: very good overall; central fold from the edition, margins complete and filigree preserved.

Provenance: Enrique Sabater, friend and secretary to Salvador Dalí during his period of close collaboration with the artist, according to provenance provided by the owner.

An interesting example of Dalí’s graphic production from the seventies, particularly attractive for retaining the bifolio of the original edition intact and for its provenance.