SPACE ELEPHANT

The image of an elephant carrying an obelisk is portrayed in one of Dalí’s best-known
paintings The Temptation of St Anthony (1946). Four elephants led by a horse in a
desert landscape, carry symbolic objects which represent various temptations. Dalí’s
elephants have exaggeratedly long legs which raise them up towards the sky. These
thin, multi-jointed legs juxtapose with the heavy body of the elephant. The obelisk
alludes to a tiring burden, yet the artist distorts reality making it weightless, an
illusion of it almost floating above the saddle. The combination of these contradictory
elements create a sense of disarray and metaphysical imbalance that can only exist in
a dream-like world.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Date: conceived and first cast in 1980
Material: bronze
Technique: lost wax process
Edition size : 6 plus 3 EA, 3 HC
Height : 277 cm
Maquette: original plaster, Space Elephant, 1980
Direct intervention (created by Dalí): the idea, image, and original maquette
Indirect intervention (created by artisans): lost wax process and patina