Salvador Dalí

Gift from the artist to the late owner in 1957

Dalí Architecture (exhibition catalogue), Fundació Caixa de Catalunya, La Pedrera, Barcelona, 1996, illustrated p. 205

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down. There is a vertical crease running vertically down the centre of the work. There are two repaired tears, the largest 1cm. in length, to the left edge, and three repaired tears to the centre of the lower edge. There is a paper infill to the lower right corner and some mottled staining within the sheet. Apart from some time-staining around all four edges of the work, this work is in good condition.
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Robert Descharnes mentions the following discussion concerning the nightclub plans between Dalí and the nightclub investors:

'As everyone gathered around the table, waiting, Dalí told Arturo, his majordomo, seaman and confidant, "Arturo, the model". He came back with a dry sea urchin of about 10cm. in diameter that he placed upon the table. The investors were quite surprised to say the least.  Dalí then had the real model brought in, an urchin in plaster, cut in two. He had made an entire cupola as a monumental urchin: "you enter through the bottom, the nightclub is inside, raised for easy access. There where the spines fall, you put your lights. And the respiratory system, that allows the sea-urchin to absorb and eject sea water, serves as an exterior fountain."' (Robert & Nicholas Descharnes, Dalí, The Hard and the Soft, Sculptures & Objects, Paris, 2003, p. 95)