Rainy Taxi

Rainy Taxi, also known as Mannequin Rotting in a Taxi-Cab, by Salvador Dalí, detail photograph from 1938 by Raoul Ubac

Rainy Taxi, also known as Mannequin Rotting in a Taxi-Cab,[1] is a three-dimensional artwork created by Salvador Dalí, in 1938, consisting of an actual automobile with two mannequin occupants.

Description

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Rainy Taxi in the version exhibited at the Dalí Theater and Museum

A male chauffeur with a shark head is in the front seat, and a female sits in the back seat. A system of pipes causes "rainfall" within the taxi. The female wears an evening dress, her hair is tousled, and lettuce and chicory grow around her. Live snails crawl across her body. The whole thing is watered by rain falling inside the car, generated by an ingenious system of pipes, activated by the public by a €1 coin changer, in the version that exists at the Dalí Theatre and Museum.[2]

The piece was first displayed in 1938 at the Galerie Beaux-Arts in Paris of the Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme, organised by André Breton and Paul Éluard. The main hall of the Exposition was designed by Marcel Duchamp[3][4][5] and Wolfgang Paalen, who was responsible for the supervision of the water installations.[6]

A reconstruction of the original installation is installed in the open courtyard of the Dalí Theatre and Museum, in Figueres.[7]: 12–15 

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Chimera, Paul (2008-04-18). "Dali, You Can Drive My Car...NOT!". The Salvador Dali Society. Archived from the original on 2010-02-23. Retrieved 2017-11-20.
  2. ^ The Conquest of the Irrational. Salvador Dalí, Art of the 20th Century. www.all-art.org. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
  3. ^ Salvador Dalí Biography Archived 2006-11-06 at the Wayback Machine Salvador Dalí. Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation. Retrieved 2011-06-07.
  4. ^ Herbert, J. (1998). Paris 1937: Worlds on Exhibition. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-3494-7.
  5. ^ Cohen-Solal, A. (2010) Leo and His Circle: The Life of Leo Castelli. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, division of Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-4427-6.
  6. ^ Andreas Neufert, Auf Liebe und Tod, Das Leben des Surrrealisten Wolfgang Paalen, Berlin (Parthas) 2015, p. 234ff
  7. ^ Pitxot, Antoni; Montse Aguer Teixidor; photography, Jordi Puig; translation, Steve Cedar (2007). The Dalí Theatre-Museum. Sant Lluís, Menorca: Triangle Postals. ISBN 9788484782889.
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42°16′05″N 2°57′34″E / 42.2681°N 2.9594°E / 42.2681; 2.9594

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