First edition of the great Surrealist's long love poem to Gala, his future wife and muse, one of 310 copies, 10 on pearly Japan, this being copy 118 of 300 on velin blanc. Octavo; 26 pp.; text in French; partly unopened. With a photographic frontispiece of Gala and Salvador Dalí by Luis Buñuel. Pebbled salmon wrappers. Age-toned, with foxing; spine worn with loss; discoloration and edgewear.
The artist first met Gala [née Elena Ivanovna Diakonova] in 1929, when she was married to the poet Paul Éluard and was the mistress of Max Ernst. It was love at first sight; in his Secret Life he wrote: "She was destined to be my Gradiva, the one who moves forward, my victory, my wife." Gala became his muse and a frequent model, often in religious roles, as in The Madonna of Port Lligat. L'Amour et la Mémoire ["Love and Memory"] was written in 1931, at the height of their romance; the two married in 1932.
First edition of the great Surrealist's long love poem to Gala, his future wife and muse, one of 310 copies, 10 on pearly Japan, this being copy 118 of 300 on velin blanc. Octavo; 26 pp.; text in French; partly unopened. With a photographic frontispiece of Gala and Salvador Dalí by Luis Buñuel. Pebbled salmon wrappers. Age-toned, with foxing; spine worn with loss; discoloration and edgewear.
The artist first met Gala [née Elena Ivanovna Diakonova] in 1929, when she was married to the poet Paul Éluard and was the mistress of Max Ernst. It was love at first sight; in his Secret Life he wrote: "She was destined to be my Gradiva, the one who moves forward, my victory, my wife." Gala became his muse and a frequent model, often in religious roles, as in The Madonna of Port Lligat. L'Amour et la Mémoire ["Love and Memory"] was written in 1931, at the height of their romance; the two married in 1932.