Salvador Dali (1904-1989) – Hercules Subduing the Hydra
Gouache and ballpoint pen from 1978.
Dimensions of sheet: 56 x 38.3 cm
Dimensions in frame: 86 x 68 cm
Hand signed.
This work is accompanied by a certificate issued by N.Descharnes.
The work is in Excellent condition.
Fast and secure shipment.
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This expressive work by Salvador Dalí originates from the artist’s landmark publication Babaouo. Abrégé d’une histoire critique du cinéma (Paris, Centre Culturel de Paris, 1978), produced at a pivotal moment in Dalí’s late career. Executed in gouache and blue ballpoint pen, Hercules Subduing the Hydra combines classical mythology with personal dedication and historical circumstance, transforming the ancient myth into a contemporary allegory.
The composition portrays Hercules—also known as Herakles—locked in combat with the multi-headed Hydra of Lerna, a creature traditionally symbolizing challenges that multiply when confronted. Dalí fuses this mythological narrative with portraiture: the hero bears the likeness of Daniel Abadie, the eminent French art historian and curator. Abadie was responsible for organizing Dalí’s major retrospective at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 1979–1980, an exhibition surrounded by extraordinary institutional and political difficulties, including a last-minute strike that threatened its opening. In this context, the Hydra becomes a metaphor for the many obstacles Abadie faced, while Hercules embodies perseverance, intellect, and resolve.
Dalí’s characteristic line—fluid, incisive, and theatrical—is heightened by the interplay between drawing and colour. The use of blue ballpoint pen, a medium frequently employed by Dalí in his later works, introduces spontaneity and intimacy, reinforcing the personal nature of the dedication. The gouache adds chromatic emphasis and sculptural depth, while the mythological references—echoes of both Hercules and Perseus—situate the work within Dalí’s enduring fascination with classical antiquity, heroism, and symbolic transformation.
Beyond its visual power, Hercules Subduing the Hydra stands as a historical document: a tribute from Dalí to a key figure in shaping his late public legacy. It reflects the artist’s ability to merge myth, biography, and current events into a single, multilayered image. The result is a work that is at once personal, allegorical, and emblematic of Dalí’s late-period synthesis of mythological grandeur and contemporary relevance.
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