Salvador Dalí

SALVADOR DALÍ (Figueres, Girona, 1904–1989).
“Le front de Minerve,” from the “Don Quichotte” series, 1957.
Color lithograph on paper. Copy 57/300.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
The frame shows signs of wear.
Measurements: 69 x 50 cm; 88 x 69 cm (frame).

The title of this lithograph alludes allegorically to Minerva, goddess of wisdom and military strategy, establishing an ironic link between the heroic ideal of Antiquity and the chivalric, visionary, and delirious impulse of Cervantes’ protagonist. A male figure bursts into the scene along a sharp diagonal, his body violently foreshortened and a weapon in his hand, as if he had been caught in mid-fall or in the heat of battle. The nervous precision of the drawing is marked by brown smudges, splatters, and streaks of ink that spill beyond its contours and accentuate the sensation of vertigo.

The print is part of the series Dalí dedicated to Don Quixote de la Mancha, created in 1957 for the edition sponsored by Joseph Foret. In this series, the artist explored the expressive possibilities of lithography through projections, splatters, and spontaneous gestures, combining figurative definition with the effects of chance.

A leading figure in Surrealism, Salvador Dalí produced a body of work that spanned painting, sculpture, film, set design, and printmaking. The Dalí Theater-Museum in Figueres houses the most extensive collection of his work, which is also represented in institutions such as the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid and MoMA in New York.