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Young Virgin Auto-Sodomized by the Horns of Her Own Chastity

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Young Virgin Auto-Sodomized by the Horns of Her Own Chastity
ArtistSalvador Dalí
Year1954 (1954)
MediumOil on canvas
Movementsurrealism
Dimensions40.5 cm × 30.5 cm (15.95 in × 12 in)
LocationPrivate collection, Paris

Young Virgin Auto-Sodomized by the Horns of Her Own Chastity is an oil painting by Salvador Dalí, from 1954.[1]

History and description

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During the 1950s, Dalí painted many of his subjects as composed of rhinoceros horns. Here, the young virgin's buttocks consist of two converging horns and two horns float beneath; "as the horns simultaneously comprise and threaten to sodomise the callipygian figure, she is effectively (auto) sodomised by her own constitution."[2]

Dalí's inspiration for the image appears to have come from Vermeer, one of a handful of artists regarded by Dalí as masters. Specifically, Vermeer's The Lacemaker seems to have been the galvanising element, with its convergent curves which focus on the subject's fingers and so to the penetration point of her needle - which as Dalí has pointed out is merely implied and not actually painted.

The painting, formerly in the collection of The Playboy Mansion (Playboy Enterprises sold the painting in London in 2003 for £1.35 million),[3] recalls his depiction of his sister Ana María in "Young Woman at a Window" (1925), and has therefore been read by some critics as a nasty jab at his sister, punishing her for publishing a biography on Dalí that presented a quite negative point of view;[4] it has also been interpreted as a painting of Gala, though in fact the figure is based on a photograph from a 1930s sex magazine.[5]

In 1958, Dalí wrote, "Paradoxically, this painting, which has an erotic appearance, is the most chaste of all."[6]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Young Virgin Auto-Sodomized by the Horns of Her Own Chastity, 1954 - Salvador Dali - WikiArt.org". WikiArt. 2016. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  2. ^ Ades, Dawn (2004). Reynolds, Kelly; Jeffett, William (eds.). Persistence and Memory: New Critical Perspectives on Dalí at the Centennial. St. Petersburg, Fla: Salvador Dali Museum. pp. 378–379. ISBN 9788845234170. OCLC 84544077. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  3. ^ "Black-and-White Night". The New York Observer. 17 February 2003. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  4. ^ Bradbury, Kirsten (2001). Dali (Essential Art). Bath: Paragon Publishing. p. 30. ISBN 9781405423182. OL 43410542M. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  5. ^ Descharnes, Robert (2002). Dali, l'héritage infernal (in French). Paris: Ramsay/La Marge. p. 72. ISBN 9782841146277. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  6. ^ Morse, Albert Reynolds; Dalí, Salvador (1957). Dali: a Study of His Life and Work. New York Graphic Society. p. 81. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
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