Relief (bas-relief), 925 silver, gilded with 24-karat gold; 26 x 20 cm; mounted in a frame measuring 38 x 33 cm.
Signed: raised signature and date cast in silver on the lower right: “Dali 1977”;
Hallmark and silversmith’s mark on the edge of the relief, lower left; original certificate on the reverse.
Below the composition, a silver plate bearing the fineness and silversmith’s hallmarks, as well as the inscription “Fuente de Vida by Salvador Dali”
The composition is based on an optical illusion typical of Surrealism and the concept of double (ambiguous) images, characteristic of Dalí’s critical-paranoid method.
- Main Plan (Central Point): A richly decorated, massive goblet dominates the axis of symmetry. Its stem and base have an organic, fluid structure resembling cascades of flowing water or geological layers.
- The Illusion of Faces: When you shift your gaze to the background and the empty spaces on either side of the vessel, the silhouette of the goblet forms the outline of two human faces in profile, gazing at one another. Dalí masterfully incorporated subtle details of eyes with eyelashes into the background, which complete this portrait.
- Lower Section (Landscape): At the base of the goblet stretches a desert landscape—distorted and characteristic of the artist—with perspective lines converging in the distance. Visible there is a microscopic, elongated human figure and a distant horizon.
Meaning and Symbolism
The title “Source of Life” refers to profound existential, spiritual, and psychoanalytic themes:
- The chalice as a source and vessel: It represents fertility, abundance, and the mythical source from which life springs. It can be interpreted in a mystical context (as the Grail or a sacred vessel) or a biological one—as the origin of all existence.
- Two Faces—Dialogue and Duality: The human profiles symbolize a relationship, love, the union of the masculine and feminine principles, or the encounter between the conscious and the subconscious. For Dalí, his wife and muse, Gala, was always a key source of inspiration in this regard.
- Water and Fluidity: The fluid texture of the chalice refers to a recurring motif in Dalí’s work—the fluidity of time and matter. Life is not static but is constantly transforming and evolving.
- The solitary figure in the background: This contrasts with the monumental chalice-spring. It emphasizes human fragility, loneliness in the face of the vastness of the universe, and the search for meaning at the feet of the absolute or nature.
