Salvador Dalí

SALVADOR DALÍ (Figueres, Girona, 1904–1989).
“Return, Return, O Shulamite,” 1971.
From the series “The Song of Songs of Solomon.”
Etching and aquatint with stencil coloring and gilding on Arches paper.
Signed and numbered in pencil 112/250.
Printed by David and Jacomet.
Published by Léon Amiel, New York.
It has slight, isolated spots on the margins of the paper, which do not affect the image.
Measurements: 39.7 x 24.5 cm (image size); 55 x 37 cm (paper size).

Created in 1971, this work belongs to the series *The Song of Songs of Solomon*, consisting of twelve prints that constitute a personal interpretation of the famous biblical poem, in which human love takes on a spiritual dimension. This print takes its title from the invocation addressed to the Shulammite, the female protagonist of the poem. The composition depicts two nude figures with stylized anatomies and long hair, immersed in a barely suggested vegetative landscape. Dalí employs a drawing of extraordinary delicacy, constructed using extremely fine blue lines and subtle chromatic accents that seem to dematerialize the bodies against the white background. The lightness of the line and the expanse of empty space lend the image an ethereal quality, in keeping with the poetic nature of the text it illustrates.

A leading figure of Surrealism, Salvador Dalí trained at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid and joined the Parisian Surrealist movement in the late 1920s. His paranoid-critical method and his universe of dreamlike images contributed decisively to renewing the language of the avant-garde. Beginning in the 1940s, he expanded his explorations into classicism, science, and religion—interests that took on particular prominence in his mature work. His work is represented in institutions such as MoMA in New York, the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, as well as the Dalí Theater-Museum in Figueres.