How Dalí’s ‘lips’ sofa began life … on the back of an envelope
by Joanna Moorhead from on (#5QT0D)
Newly opened archive of art patron's papers reveals a previously unseen sketch for the surrealist work
One of the world's best-known pieces of furniture, Salvador Dali's Mae West lips sofa, started life as a sketch on the back of an envelope, research in the archive of a Sussex country house has revealed.
The sketch was unearthed at West Dean near Chichester, the former home of Dali's patron Edward James, and experts say it reveals the extent to which James was involved in the creation of the 1930s sofa. Alongside the lobster telephone, also the result of a collaboration between Dali and James, it is one of the emblems of the surrealist movement.
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