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Mae West Lips Sofa

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The Mae West Lips Sofa is the centerpiece of an installation at the Dalí Theatre and Museum, Spain
On display at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2017

The Mae West Lips Sofa is a surrealist sculpture in the form of a sofa by Salvador Dalí. The light red, 110 cm × 183 cm × 81.5 cm (43 in × 72 in × 32 in) sized seating furniture made of polyurethane foam coated with a red polidur coating was shaped after the lips of actress Mae West, whom Dalí apparently found fascinating.[1] Dalí never intended for the sofa to serve a functional use. He also claimed that he partly based the design of the sofa[citation needed] on a pile of rocks near Cadaqués and Portlligat, where he stayed for many years with his wife, Gala Éluard Dalí.

Edward James, a rich British patron of the Surrealists, originally commissioned the piece from Dalí. The original five versions were produced in 1937–38, which are now held in the art collections of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Dalí Theatre and Museum in Figueres, Catalonia,[2] the Victoria and Albert Museum,[3] the Brighton Museum,[4] and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.[5]

The sofa was reproduced in 1973 by Bocaccio Design, known also as BD Barcelona Design.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Shelley, Landry. "Dalí Wows Crowd in Philadelphia" Unbound (The College of New Jersey) Spring 2005. Retrieved July 22, 2006.
  2. ^ Pitxot, Antoni; Montse Aguer Teixidor; photography, Jordi Puig; translation, Steve Cedar (2007). The Dalí Theatre-Museum. Sant Lluís, Menorca: Triangle Postals. ISBN 9788484782889.
  3. ^ "V&A acquires Mae West Lips sofa by Salvador Dalí and Edward James" (PDF). vam.ac.uk. 16 May 2018.
  4. ^ "Collections: Decorative Art". Brighton Museums. Archived from the original on 13 January 2019 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ^ Pucker up, Melbourne: Salvador Dalí’s iconic Mae West Lips Sofa goes on display at NGV International, NGV. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
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Media related to Mae West Lips Sofa at Wikimedia Commons