Salvador Dali May 11 1904 - Jan. 23, 1989, numberd in pencil #21/295 signature in plate, Stamped "Leda" de Mart Salvador Dali LaH Mourlot stamped Paris. Squint. Suddenly, the nude woman gazing out a window becomes a portrait of . . . Abraham Lincoln! Salvador Dali loved pranks, and here he plays a trick on our eyes and minds. But why juxtapose a bare backside and a great American President? Read on. Salvador Dali, Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea which at Twenty Meters becomes a Portrait of Abraham Lincoln, 1976, oil on canvas, 75.5 by 99.25 inches+ THE ARTIST Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was one of the most famous artists of the 20th century, making his mark in his 20s as a controversial surrealist and continuing to provoke, in his art and life, until he died. He was born in Spain but lived much of his adult life shuttling between Paris and New York. Still, the beaches, ports and rocky coast of Catalonia formed a constant presence in his work. In the late 1920s, Dali met his future wife, Gala, who would be his muse until she died in 1982. Dali mastered every medium, creating sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, even movies. But his greatest works are his paintings. THE ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING (ie., not pictured here) Is part of the permanent collection at the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg and is one of the last large-scale paintings Dali completed before his physical decline in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Most of the time he worked in a studio, but this was painted, in part at least, in the St. Regis Hotel in New York in 1976. It was first exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York that same year and was owned by private collectors for years. It was borrowed for an exhibition here in 1985 but the museum didn't acquire it until 2004. Many people believe Dali's famous "melting clocks" is his most reproduced painting. But, no, it's this one. THE TITLE Dali loved complex titles and Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea which at Twenty Meters becomes a Portrait of Abraham Lincoln is one of the longer ones, including its subtitle, Homage to Rothko. But it sums up the major feature for viewers, which is the spectacular double image Dali created. Though he took the work seriously, he was having some fun, making us work for that optical illusion. The best way to see it is from 20 meters (almost 66 feet). At the Dali Museum, it hangs at the end of the large back gallery so you can take a close look at it, then back up until you see Lincoln's image emerge. LINCOLN You might think Dali was being irreverent, combining Lincoln and a naked woman. In fact, it was a sincere tribute. Dali empathized with the sacrifices and turmoil of the American Civil War, having lived through a brutal, bloody one in his own country. Dali was always grateful to America for welcoming him early in his career and giving him safe haven during World War II. Lincoln embodied all the qualities Dali admired about America. A little-known connection important to Dali was that the American volunteers who joined the Spanish freedom fighters were called the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. The woman is Gala, whom Dali painted many times. Her pose here is also one Dali favored, facing away from us so we can't see her expression, looking at a harbor from a window. Like Lincoln, Gala represented an ideal to Dali. In truth, she was often greedy, vain and overbearing. But to him, she was the perfect muse, providing strength and inspiration, always in the end mysterious and unknowable. She appears again at the lower left as a shadowy, dreamlike figure. When he painted her here, she was well into her 70s, but she remains in his eyes a young, lissome woman.

Excellent picture, frame poor, needs work