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Lot Essay
Executed in 1957, Femmes métamorphosées- Les sept arts is an extraordinary work belonging to a series of paintings on the theme of the seven arts, which relate to one of the few completed projects Dalí produced during these years. In 1944 Dalí was commissioned by the theatrical impresario Billy Rose to produce a series of paintings on the theme of the seven lively arts for the lobby of the Ziegfeld theatre in New York. These were to accompany Cole Porter's The Seven Lively Arts, Rose's new theatrical extravaganza which opened in December 1944. In 1957 a fire in the theatre destroyed all the paintings and Rose commissioned Dalí to paint a number of replacement pictures of which Femmes métamorphosées is one.
The Seven Lively Arts was Rose's opening show for the legendary Ziegfeld Theater, which he had purchased, and he clearly knew that involving Dalí (along with Porter, Igor Stravinsky and Benny Goodman) would help make it go with a bang. The musical took the form of seven acts, representing seven Muses and therefore seven disciplines, as did Dalí's paintings. The Seven Arts pictures show Dalí's fascination with the razzmatazz world of showbiz, and also by extension with the culture of the United States. Of the seven arts that Dalí represented in this series, several appear overtly linked to their theme either in terms of content or of title, for instance Grand Opéra, La danse, La musique - L'orchestre rouge and Rhapsodie moderne. In this context, the strange insect and lobster figures of Femmes métamorphosées - Les sept arts can be seen as a Dalinian representation of ballet (for the ballet in Rose's production, Stravinsky wrote the score), with the various hybrid and anthropomorphised animals shown in their tutus.
The Seven Lively Arts was Rose's opening show for the legendary Ziegfeld Theater, which he had purchased, and he clearly knew that involving Dalí (along with Porter, Igor Stravinsky and Benny Goodman) would help make it go with a bang. The musical took the form of seven acts, representing seven Muses and therefore seven disciplines, as did Dalí's paintings. The Seven Arts pictures show Dalí's fascination with the razzmatazz world of showbiz, and also by extension with the culture of the United States. Of the seven arts that Dalí represented in this series, several appear overtly linked to their theme either in terms of content or of title, for instance Grand Opéra, La danse, La musique - L'orchestre rouge and Rhapsodie moderne. In this context, the strange insect and lobster figures of Femmes métamorphosées - Les sept arts can be seen as a Dalinian representation of ballet (for the ballet in Rose's production, Stravinsky wrote the score), with the various hybrid and anthropomorphised animals shown in their tutus.