Salvador Dali - Coloso de Rodas, 1980s, lithograph

The Colossus of Rhodes

SALVADOR DALI (1904-1989, Spain) "Colossus of Rhodes" is a color lithograph with embossing on Japon paper that measures 29.75 x 21 inches (75.6 x 53.3 cm.) There is a pencil signature in the lower right and the edition number is 225. The Colossus of Rhodes is the ancient statue of the Greek titan-god of the sun, Helios.
The painting shows the Colossus of Rhodes, the ancient statue of the Greek titan-god of the sun, Helios. It was ultimately not used for the movie, and in 1981 was donated to the Kunstmuseum Bern, its present location.

Painted two decades after Dalí's heyday with the surrealist movement, The Colossus of Rhodes is emblematic of his shift from the avant-garde to the mainstream. After financial pressures imposed by his move to the United States in 1940, and influenced by his fascination with Hollywood, Dalí shifted focus away from his earlier exploration of the subconscious and perception, and towards historical and scientific themes.

Dalí's rendering of the Colossus is heavily influenced by a 1953 paper by Herbert Maryon, a sculptor and conservator at the British Museum. Maryon proposed a hollow Colossus formed from hammered bronze plates, located alongside the harbour rather than astride it. He further suggested that it used a hanging drapery to give the statue a stable tripod base. These elements were all incorporated by Dalí, now the artist is one of the best artist of the world as Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Chillida or Banksy.