Harpo Marx
Salvador Dalí, Spanish, 1904 - 1989
Date:
1937Medium:
Graphite and ink on coated card stockDimensions:
Sheet: 17 3/4 x 14 inches (45.1 x 35.6 cm)Copyright:
© Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkCuratorial Department:
Prints, Drawings, and PhotographsObject Location:
1986-26-8Credit Line:
The Henry P. McIlhenny Collection in memory of Frances P. McIlhenny, 1986
1937Medium:
Graphite and ink on coated card stockDimensions:
Sheet: 17 3/4 x 14 inches (45.1 x 35.6 cm)Copyright:
© Salvador Dali, Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New YorkCuratorial Department:
Prints, Drawings, and PhotographsObject Location:
Currently not on view
Accession Number:1986-26-8Credit Line:
The Henry P. McIlhenny Collection in memory of Frances P. McIlhenny, 1986
Label:
Dalí's admiration for the horn-honking, trench-coated Harpo Marx, the second oldest and most charismatic of the Marx Brothers, led him to create this portrait of the sweet-natured comedian during a visit to Hollywood in February 1937. The drawing makes reference to an elaborate harp, assembled with barbed-wire strings and adorned with teaspoons and forks for tuning knobs, that Dalí had sent to Harpo as a Christmas present two months earlier. Harpo was so delighted with the strange musical instrument that he immediately sent Dalí a photograph of himself with bandaged fingers, thus pretending that he had unwittingly plucked the barbed-wire strings with his bare hands.
Dalí's admiration for the horn-honking, trench-coated Harpo Marx, the second oldest and most charismatic of the Marx Brothers, led him to create this portrait of the sweet-natured comedian during a visit to Hollywood in February 1937. The drawing makes reference to an elaborate harp, assembled with barbed-wire strings and adorned with teaspoons and forks for tuning knobs, that Dalí had sent to Harpo as a Christmas present two months earlier. Harpo was so delighted with the strange musical instrument that he immediately sent Dalí a photograph of himself with bandaged fingers, thus pretending that he had unwittingly plucked the barbed-wire strings with his bare hands.
