Salvador Dalí – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — Plate IV (1969)

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — Plate IV (1969)

Artist: Salvador Dalí
Title: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — Plate IV
Series: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Portfolio (1969)
Year: 1969
Medium: Heliogravure in colours on Mandeure paper
Image Size: 39.4 × 26.7 cm (15 1/2 × 10 1/2 in)
Sheet Size: 43.2 × 29.2 cm (17 × 11 1/2 in)
Edition: 2,500 — this example: 1,650/2,500
Signature: Signed “Dalí / 1968” in plate
Watermark: Mandeure
Printer: Princeton University Press, New Jersey
Publisher: Maecenas Press — Random House, New York
Frame: Unframed
Type: Limited edition heliogravure — from the complete Alice portfolio

Description : 

Plate IV is the most chromatically exuberant image in the portfolio so far — a confrontation with Carroll’s caterpillar, that oracular, hookah-smoking creature who sits atop his mushroom and demands of Alice that she identify herself. In Dalí’s rendering, the caterpillar becomes a towering, bejewelled organism of extraordinary visual complexity: a vertical column of blue, yellow, red, and green dotted segments rises the full height of the composition, its form simultaneously biological and fantastical, recalling both the natural world of entomology and the supernatural world of Dalínian metamorphosis. The mushroom below — rendered in blue, mauve, and rust, its cap curling like a baroque architectural element — provides the organic pedestal for this creature of impossible magnificence.

At upper right, in deliberate contrast to the caterpillar’s density, a simple cartoon-like figure — round-headed, winged, rendered in pure black line — floats with the lightness of a thought. At upper left, the plate signature appears in warm red beneath a small crown motif, Dalí asserting his authorial presence with characteristic wit. The pale, warm ground — almost flesh-toned — gives the composition a dreamlike intimacy, the creatures appearing to inhabit a space that is neither interior nor exterior but purely imagined.

Printed by Princeton University Press on Mandeure paper and published by Maecenas Press / Random House, New York, 1969.

Shipping & Delivery: 

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FAQ

Is this an original Dalí print?
Yes — an original heliogravure in colours on Mandeure paper, signed “Dalí / 1968” in the plate, from the 1969 Maecenas Press / Random House edition of 2,500.

What is the edition size?
2,500 impressions — this example is number 1,650.

Can I acquire the complete portfolio?
Yes — the complete set of 14 framed prints plus the first edition book is available separately. Contact us for details.

What is a heliogravure?
A photomechanical intaglio printing technique of exceptional tonal range and chromatic subtlety — one of the finest reproductive processes in the history of fine art printing.

Is the work framed?
No — sold unframed. Please contact us for framing options.

Do you ship internationally?
Yes — worldwide, with museum-grade flat packaging, full insurance, and shipment tracking.

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