Edouard Manet: Boats and Ships

From the collection of the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France. Most of them are not on display.

Edouard Manet, Marine, date indéterminée, aquarelle,

H. 11 ; L. 21 cm,

Don Mme Julien Pillaut, 1961, © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay)/ Rachel Prat

Edouard Manet, Deux voiliers en mer, date indéterminée, mine de plomb ; papier vergé,

H. 9,2 ; L. 14 cm,

Achat, 1954, © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay)/ DR

Edouard Manet, Trois voiliers, date indéterminée,mine de plomb ; papier vergé,

H. 9 ; L. 14,1 cm,

Achat, 1954,© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay)/ DR

Edouard Manet, Deux voiliers en mer, date indéterminée, mine de plomb ; papier vergé,

H. 12,6 ; L. 8,5 cm,

Achat, 1954, © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay)/ DR

Edouard Manet, Croquis de voilier, date indéterminée, mine de plomb,

H. 14,3 ; L. 9,5 cm,

Legs Etienne Moreau-Nélaton, 1927,© RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay)/ Michèle Bellot

Edouard Manet, Bateaux en mer, soleil couchant, en 1868, tableau, huile sur toile,

H. 42,0 ; L. 94,0 cm.,

Œuvre retrouvée en Allemagne après la seconde guerre mondiale et confiée à la garde des musées nationaux en 1951, © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay)/ image RMN-GP

Edouard Manet, Marine avec voiliers au clair de lune, date indéterminée, lavis d’encre de Chine ; mine de plomb, H. 19,7 ; L. 17,9 cm,

Achat, 1954, © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay) / Michèle Bellot

Brioche Paintings

I like brioches.

I like smelling them, I like viewing them, I like gently squeezing them, I like tasting them.

I also like paintings of brioches. I found five plus one of them, by Chardin, Manet and Picasso.

The sequence begins with Chardin and continues with three brioche paintings by Manet. The fifth painting has oysters as its main subject, but there is one brioche on the side, so I included it. The Picasso painting completes the sequence.

La Brioche, Chardin, 1763, Oil on canvas

Dimensions: Height: 0.47 m; Height with frame: 0.58 m; Width: 0.56 m; Width with frame: 0.675 m

Musée du Louvre, Paris

The Brioche, Edouard Manet (French, Paris 1832–1883 Paris)

1870, Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 25 5/8 x 31 7/8 in. (65.1 x 81 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Manet reportedly called still life the “touchstone of the painter.” From 1862 to 1870 he executed several large-scale tabletop scenes of fish and fruit, of which this is the last and most elaborate. It was inspired by the donation to the Louvre of a painting of a brioche by Jean Siméon Chardin, the eighteenth-century French master of still life.

It seems natural that Manet, who lavished attention on the painterly quality of his pictures, should be attracted to the work of Chardin, a master of illusionistic texture. Although Manet made several large-scale still lifes of fruit and fish in the mid-1860s, this work, of 1870, was inspired by the arrival at the Louvre of Chardin’s painting of a brioche.

Like Chardin, Manet surrounded the buttery bread with things to stimulate the senses—a brilliant white napkin, soft peaches, glistening plums, a polished knife, a bright red box—and, in traditional fashion, topped the brioche with a fragrant flower.

Edouard Manet (1832–1883). Nature morte, brioche, fleurs, poires. 1876.

Manet’s brush is liberated from the constraints of the literal reproduction of reality.

Edouard Manet (1832–1883). Nature morte, huîtres, citron, brioche. 1876.

The brioche is on the right side of the picture. As in the previous picture, the artist is now depicting reality with a broader less precise brush.

Title: Still Life with Brioche (Nature morte à la brioche)

Artist: Edouard Manet, French, 1832–1883
Date: 1880
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: Work21 ¾ × 13 ⅞ in 55.24 × 35.24 cm
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh

Manet was keen on depicting brioches.

On 16 October, 1882, the aspiring young trainee painter Blanche was tasked with the “test ultime pour le peintre” while visiting Manet in his new studio at 77 rue d’Amsterdam, to paint an ordinary bun. “Bring me a brioche, I want to see you paint a brioche, if you can paint a brioche then you can call yourself a painter.”

Pablo Picasso, 1909, La Brioche (Nature morte à la brioche).

Painted in 1909

With Picasso there is not much to say, the world is turned upside down. But it is ok, as long as we can convince ourselves that what we see is a brioche.

An industrial site in Romania some years ago

Industrial site in Romania. Photo: Nikolaos Moropoulos
Industrial site in Romania. Photo: Nikolaos Moropoulos
Industrial site in Romania. Photo: Nikolaos Moropoulos
Industrial site in Romania. Photo: Nikolaos Moropoulos
Industrial site in Romania. Photo: Nikolaos Moropoulos
Industrial site in Romania. Photo: Nikolaos Moropoulos
Industrial site in Romania. Photo: Nikolaos Moropoulos
Industrial site in Romania. Photo: Nikolaos Moropoulos
Industrial site in Romania. Photo: Nikolaos Moropoulos
Industrial site in Romania. Photo: Nikolaos Moropoulos
Industrial site in Romania. Photo: Nikolaos Moropoulos

Vincent van Gogh: The Potato Eaters

Van Gogh painted the potato eaters in 1885, in Nuenen.

He hoped that the picture would gain him entry into the Parisian art scene.

But the picture was very dark and the human figures suffered from many drawing errors for Vincent’s goal to be achieved.

In 1890 Vincent was interned in a psychiatric asylum in Saint Remy, near Arles.

He decided to rework the potato eaters and started sketching human figures around a table.

He did not manage to paint a new version of the potato eaters.

Four People Sharing a Meal
Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890), Nuenen, Maart-April 1885

chalk on paper, 20.9 cm x 34.6 cm

Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Studies of the Interior of a Cottage, and a Sketch of ‘The Potato Eaters’
Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890), Nuenen, March-April 1885

chalk on paper, 21.3 cm x 34.6 cm

Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Study for ‘The Potato Eaters’
Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890), Nuenen, April 1885

oil on canvas, 33.6 cm x 44.5 cm

Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Letter from Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh with sketch of The Potato Eaters (recto)
Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890), Nuenen, 9 April 1885

pen and ink on paper, 20.7 cm x 26.4 cm
Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

The Potato Eaters, Currently on view

Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890), Nuenen, April-May 1885

oil on canvas, 82 cm x 114 cm

Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

The Potato Eaters
Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890), Nuenen, April 1885

lithograph on paper, 31.2 cm x 39.6 cm

Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Sketches of Figures Seated at a Table
Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890), Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, March-April 1890

pencil on paper, 31.9 cm x 23.9 cm

Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Interior with Two Figures Eating
Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890), Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, March-April 1890

pencil on paper, 24.4 cm x 32.0 cm

Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Three Figures Eating
Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890), Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, March-April 1890

pencil on paper, 24.4 cm x 25.3 cm

Credits (obliged to state): Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Vincent van Gogh, ‘Interior with Five Figures Around a Table’, March-April 1890,

pencil on paper, 23.2 x 32 cm,

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation)

Madonna and Child paintings by Botticelli and Raphael in Berlin

This post is about Madonna and Child paintings by Raphael and Botticelli in Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie.

Raphael, Madonna with Child, St. John and a Child Saint (Madonna Terranuova)

Raphael, Madonna with Child, St. John and a Child Saint (Madonna Terranuova), ca. 1505, oil on poplar © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie. Photo N. Moropoulos

Of the five paintings of the Virgin Mary by Raphael owned by the Gemäldegalerie, the Madonna Terranuova (named for the collection from which it was acquired), which dates from circa 1505, and hence from the beginning of the artist’s Florentine period, is the largest and most monumental panel, and the only one in tondo form.

Together with the Madonna Connestabile (Saint Petersburg, Hermitage), which dates from 1504, it is one of Raphael’s earliest paintings in this format. It can be traced to an earlier pen-and-ink drawing by Raphael (Lille) from the earlier Umbrian period, which shows the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child with the young John the Baptist; here they are flanked by two background figures: an angel (Michael) and Saint Joseph. In the drawing, then, there was no space for a landscape. The drawing was later cut down, becoming semicircular above, and a large section is missing on the lower right, which originally showed the Christ Child’s legs, the Virgin’s lower left arm, and Joseph’s hand. Researchers regarded a contemporary copy of the drawing now in Berlin as preserving the original, pristine condition of the compositional drawing in Lille, but the differences between the two should not be overlooked.

In the Berlin drawing, the Virgin’s lower left arm emerges from her cloak, the hand open, in a way that resembles the painting. In the Lille drawing, in contrast, the cloak does not conceal Mary’s now visible upper arm. Similar deviations are noticeable with regard to Joseph’s hands. Given the deviations in the Berlin copy in relation to the original drawing, it cannot be simply assumed that the Berlin version reflects the missing parts of the original drawing in Lille. Instead, the Berlin drawing probably represents a different stage of compositional development, or may be a variant from the hand of an unknown Umbrian artist. A fragment of the cartoon showing the head of the Virgin is found in the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett (my note: see below). The pictorial conception corresponds to an Umbrian compositional schema dating from the late 15th century, one adopted by Raphael from Perugino (1493; Paris, Musée du Louvre) and adapted in the early Berlin panel (1502; no. 145).

After deciding to use the tondo form for the Madonna Terranuova, he omitted the flanking saints, which must now have seemed to him old-fashioned, dividing the background of the composition horizontally precisely at the lateral axis into a lower half, which is covered by a balustrade, and an upper half, which displays a landscape with an expansive sky, against which the head and shoulder contours of the Virgin are set off sharply. By juxtaposing the infant John the Baptist on the left with the figure of another, half-nude boy with halo on the right as a counterpart,

Raphael creates the type of pyramidal or triangular composition he would often use subsequently. Noticeable in the soft sfumato, the extroverted gestures, and the developed spatiality is the influence of Leonardo da Vinci, who had returned to Florence from Milan in 1503. His art made a deep impression on Raphael, who borrowed the motif of the Virgin’s gracefully outstretched left hand from Leonardo’s Madonna of the Yarnwinder (1501 ; the best version, possibly an original, is owned by the Duke of Buccleuch).

Raphael introduces this motif only during a later working stage. Infrared reflectography shows the initial preliminary drawing of the left-hand. It “was supposed to rest on the thigh, gently supporting the foot of the child” (J. Meyer zur Capellen 1994)| 200 Masterpieces of European Painting – Gemaldegalerie Berlin, 2019).

Head of the “Madonna Terranuova” (fragment of the cardboard), drawing, around 1505. Black pencil, heightened with white, stippled, on paper.

Despite the badly damaged, even fragmentary state of preservation, the outstanding quality of this drawing cannot be overlooked. The draughtsman created the tilted head of a young woman of particular delicacy with a black pen. This is an original-size drawing (a so-called cartoon), which apparently served to transfer this head to the picture support when a painting was being executed. This was done mechanically, namely by fingering through the most important lines, which also explains why the paper has suffered so much. Nonetheless, it is in the hand of Raphael, as it depicts the head of the so-called Madonna Terranuova (so named after the collection from which it was acquired), now housed in the Berlin Gemäldegalerie. (DK 2019)

Raphael, Mary with the Child / Madonna Solly, painting, around 1500/1502

Raphael, Mary with the Child / Madonna Solly, around 1500/1502. Credit: National Museums in Berlin, Picture Gallery / Christoph Schmidt

In Raphael’s picture, the child’s head turn and line of sight are newly motivated by the book that Maria is holding out to him with her right hand and which she is reading herself: the book is the common focus of attention for mother and child. Raphael also follows Perugino’s Umbrian stylistic type of the half-length Madonna in front of a landscape with gentle hill contours that are enlivened by individual trees. But the approach to a psychological penetration and visualization of the interrelationship between mother and child is new, a first achievement of his more modern, more humane conception of art – he varied the motif of the book in a stylistically and temporally related Madonna picture (Los Angeles, Norton Simon Museum of Art ), to which various preliminary drawings refer, which were sometimes erroneously associated (as in the 1931 report) with the Madonna Solly.

A pen drawing by Raphael in the Louvre (no. 1607) is related to the latter. – The bird, which the child holds with a fine cord in the right and left hand, symbolizes the soul (cf. Rubens cat. no. 763) and, as a goldfinch eating thistles and thorns, points to the passion and resurrection of Christ. – A second, contemporary version (1961 in an Italian private collection) was published by Longhi as the original first version”. The latter, however, is merely a copy.* Perhaps the Madonna Dotallevi (Ident. No. 147) is the earliest.

The Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) is considered one of the most important artists of the Renaissance. Countless reproductions have been made of his works, with some creators adding a slant or “modern touch”, resulting in a work that has acquired a momentum and trajectory in its own right. Many of these re-workings are so removed from the originals that Botticelli has become a household name and can be used as a touchstone for fashion and lifestyle without any mention being made of his paintings. Products are named after him, popular-culture personalities allude to his motifs in fashioning their own image, and some of the characters portrayed in his works – particularly his “Venus” – are now firmly embedded in collective awareness.

Installation of the picture gallery in the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum, room 37, painting by Botticelli photography [1933 – 1939]. Credit: National Museums in Berlin, Central Archive

Sandro Botticelli “Mary with the Child and Singing Angels” (102A).- Sandro Botticelli “Saint Sebastian” (1128).- Sandro Botticelli, workshop “Giuliani de’ Medici” (106B).- Sandro Botticelli, workshop “Profile portrait of a young woman” (106A) Reason: reorganization of the collection

The Virgin and Child with Singing Angels (Raczyński Tondo)” was painted around 1480.

Sandro Botticelli The Virgin and Child with Singing Angels. © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie. Photo N. Moropoulos

Possibly the cyclorama belonged to the brothers of S. Francesco in Florence. Mary is crowned as the queen of heaven, and at the same time she is the compassionate mother of the Christ child destined for sacrifice. He grabs her breast. The nurturing Mary was considered by theologians to be the mother of all people and the giver of salvation. Singing angels praise her, holding lilies as symbols of purity. Just as one always looked for the ideal of earthly female beauty in the face and figure of Mary, so one can see in the angels the embodiment of youthful, harmonious proportions. Botticelli mastered the demanding format with a well thought-out pictorial arrangement that takes up the round of the boundary: the Madonna is enthroned in the center of multiple circling movements.| Prestel Museum Guide – Picture Gallery Berlin, 2017

Below you can see another picture by Botticelli, “Mary with the child and angels carrying candlesticks“painted around 1485/1490, which belonged to the collection of the Gemäldegalerie but is no longer there. Most probably it has been destroyed in May 1945 in the control tower of the anti-aircraft bunker in Berlin’s Friedrichshain..

Sandro Botticelli, Mary with the Child and angels carrying candlesticks – Credit: National Museums in Berlin, Picture Gallery / Gustav Schwarz

Ancient Greek Art in Berlin’s “Altes Museum”

I took these photographs when I visited the “Altes Museum” in Berlin in 2002. I checked recently the online collection of the Museum, and all the objects are there.

Greek wine-mixing vessel, Attic red-figure, attributed to the vase painter Euphronios, c. 515 BC
Wounded Amazon of Polycletus from Argos
Statue, clothed, standing
3rd quarter of the 5th century BC

Early Imperial marble copy after a Greek bronze original by the sculptor Polyklet for the sanctuary of Artemis in Ephesus. From antiquity, a competition between the most famous sculptors of classical times for the depiction of a wounded amazon has survived. Polyklet’s work has been recognized as the finest and one of the most celebrated masterpieces of the Classical period. Repeated many times in Roman times, the Berlin statue is one of the best copies.

Torso of the Doryphorus of Polykleitos from Argos
Statue, nude, standing
mid 5th century BC

Roman copy of the early Imperial period after a Greek bronze statue of Polykleitos. The shape of the spear-bearer of Polykleitos reflects the experimental examination of the interplay of stress and relief in the depiction of the human body. Depicted is the ideal of the athletic, armed man who uses his life and limb for the freedom of his city.

Bronze statue of a young man (so-called praying boy)
Statue, nude, standing
Late 4th century BC/ early 3rd century BC

The statue, found in the Renaissance, went through many collections before Frederick II acquired it. His arms are imaginatively complemented and give the statue its name. Stylistically, he is associated with the environment of the sculptor Lysippus of Sicyon. At this point since 1830, it is the signet of the antique collection.

so called Narcissus
Statue, nude, standing
Late 5th century BC/ early 4th century BC

Roman copy of the 2nd century AD. after the Greek bronze statue of the so-called Narcissos by Polyket around 400 BC. Chr.

Pouring Satyr
Statue, nude, standing
2nd quarter of the 4th century BC

Roman copy around 150 AD. after a Greek original from around 370 – 350 BC; the original is attributed to the Attic sculptor Praxiteles.

Emil Nolde Graphik – 12 Kunstkarten – 12 Etchings on cards

Emil Nolde is one of my favourite German artists. Today I present 12 of his etchings printed on post cards.

Emil Nolde, Hamburg
Emil Nolde, Girl
Emil Nolde, Candle Dancers
Emil Nolde, Big Windmill
Emil Nolde, Tingel Tangel II
Emil Nolde, Tingel Tangel III
Emil Nolde, Young Daenin
Emil Nolde, Youngsters
Emil Nolde, Strange Beings
Emil Nolde, Small Female Dancer
Emil Nolde, Kabaret
Emil Nolde, Fishing Steam Boat
Emil Nolde, Blond Woman

Elsa Schiaparelli – Salvador Dali: Βραδινό Φόρεμα με Αστακό

Το θέμα αυτού του άρθρου είναι το βραδινό φόρεμα με αστακό που σχεδίασε ο Salvador Dali και έφτιαξε η Elsa Schiaparelli τον Φεβρουάριο του 1937.
Τη συνεργασία τέχνης και μόδας την ξεκίνησαν ο Pablo Picasso και η Gabrielle Chanel. Συνεργάστηκαν με τον Jean Cocteau στο θεατρικό έργο Antigone το 1922, και στην χορογραφία του Serge Diaghilev για τα Μπαλέτα της Ρωσίας «Le Train Bleu» το 1924.
Ο Ισπανός καλλιτέχνης Salvador Dali (1904 – 1989) στη δεκαετία του 1930 τοποθέτησε πολλούς κατακόκκινους αστακούς στα έργα του. Αναφέρω μερικούς από αυτούς: ένας κάθεται στην κεφαλή μιας γυναίκας (Portrait of Gala with Lobster, 1933, ιδιωτική συλλογή), ένας άλλος αναπαύεται πάνω σε ένα τηλέφωνο (το «αστακο-τηλέφωνο» του 1935, που σήμερα βρίσκεται στην γκαλερί Τέϊτ του Λονδίνου), και ένας τρίτος αποτελεί το κεντρικό θέμα της αφίσας για μια σειρά διαλέξεων των υπερρεαλιστών με θέμα τον αστακό (Systematic Cycle of Surrealist Lectures “The Lobster”, 1935, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Μαδρίτη, Ισπανία).
Η Elsa Schiaparelli ήταν μια από τις κορυφαίες σχεδιάστριες μόδας των δεκαετιών 1920 και 1930. Γεννήθηκε το 1890 στη Ρώμη της Ιταλίας και αποβίωσε το 1973 στο Παρίσι της Γαλλίας. Σπούδασε φιλοσοφία στο Πανεπιστήμιο της Ρώμης και μετά από κάποιες περιπέτειες βρέθηκε στο Λονδίνο όπου το 1914 νυμφεύθηκε τον κόμη Γουίλλιαμ ντε Βεντ. Μετά τον γάμο του, το ζευγάρι μετέβη στη Νέα Υόρκη όπου μπήκε σε κύκλους υπερρεαλιστών καλλιτεχνών όπως ο Πικάμπια, ο Μαν Ρέι και ο Μαρσέλ Ντυσάν. Μετά την διάλυση του γάμου της το 1922, η Elsa επιστρέφει στο Παρίσι και ξεκινά μια ανοδική πορεία που την έφερε στο τέλος της δεκαετίας του 1930 στην παγκόσμια κορυφή της υψηλής ένδυσης, αναδεικνύοντας την σαν την μεγαλύτερη ανταγωνίστρια της Κοκό Σανέλ. Ο Salvador Dali βρέθηκε στον κοινωνικό και καλλιτεχνικό κύκλο της Elsa Schiaparelli από τότε που αυτή επέστρεψε στο Παρίσι.
1969-232-52

Η πρώτη συνεργασία Dali- Schiaparelli έλαβε χώρα το 1935 σε ένα σχέδιο που τυπώθηκε σε εφημερίδα, και έκτοτε αντήλλασσαν συχνά πρωτοποριακές ιδέες. Έτσι όταν η Schiaparelli προσκάλεσε τον Dalí να διατυπώσει προτάσεις και ιδέες για ένα μοναδικό κομμάτι για την Αμερικανίδα φίλη της Wallis Warfield Simpson, το αστακο-τηλέφωνο ήταν ακόμη πρόσφατα χαραγμένο στο μυαλό όλων, κι έτσι δεν εξέπληξε κανένα το ότι ο Dali πρότεινε να φτιάξουν ένα αστακο-φόρεμα. Δεν γνωρίζουμε ποια ήταν η πρώτη αντίδραση της Wallis σε αυτή την πρόταση, το σίγουρο όμως έιναι ότι εγκρίθηκε και η Schiaparelli πήρε την εντολή να ξεκινήσει αμέσως να δουλεύει το φόρεμα.

Ανοίγω παρένθεση για να θυμίσω ότι η Wallis Warfield Simpson ήταν η γυναίκα για την οποία τον Δεκέμβριο 1936 ο τότε βασιλέας της Αγγλίας Edward VIII παραιτήθηκε από το θρόνο στον οποίο είχε ανέλθει τον Ιανουάριο 1936, επειδή δεν του επιτρεπόταν ως αρχηγός της Εκκλησίας της Αγγλίας να παντρευτεί την Wallis, μια γυναίκα που ήταν διαζευγμένη και ο πρώην σύζυγος της ήταν ακόμη ζωντανός. Στον θρόνο ανέβηκε ο αδελφός του, George VI, πατέρας της βασίλισσας Elisabeth ΙΙ. Ο Edward έλαβε τον τίτλο Duke of Windsor και παντρεύτηκε την Wallis στην Γαλλία την 3 Ιουνίου 1937. Παρέμεινε παντρεμένος μαζί της μέχρι τον θάνατο του, που επήλθε 35 χρόνια αργότερα. Είναι αξιοσημείωτο το ότι ο Edward συνάντησε την Wallis για πρώτη φορά στο δείπνο γενεθλίων της το 1933. Το κύριο πιάτο στο δείπνο ήταν ψητός αστακός.
Τα χρώματα που επιλέχθηκαν ήταν το ιβουάρ του νυφικού και το έντονο ροζ του νυφικού. Το φόρεμα θα κοβόταν στο σχέδιο που άρεσε πάντα στη Wallis με μια ασυνήθιστη προσθήκη: ένα πορτοκαλί – ροζ σολωμό ζωγραφισμένο με το χέρι.
Το «αστακο-φόρεμα» είναι φτιαγμένο από άσπρο μετάξι και έχει μια βυσσινο-κόκκινη ζώνη στη μέση. Ο αστακός σχεδιάστηκε από τον Σαλβαντόρ Νταλί. Ο αστακός βρίσκεται μέσα σε ένα μαύρο περίγραμμα και είναι κόκκινος, δηλαδή μαγειρεμένος. Η θερμότητα καταστρέφει όλες τις χρωστικές ουσίες του κελύφους του αστακού, αφήνοντας άθικτο το κόκκινο με ροζ και πορτοκαλιές ανταύγειες. Ο Νταλί προσέθεσε και κλωναράκια από μαϊντανό εδώ κι εκεί, συμπληρώνοντας την εντύπωση που δημιουργείται στον θεατή ότι βλέπει ένα γεύμα με αστακό. Η θέση του αστακού είναι τουλάχιστον προκλητική, αφού η τριγωνική ουρά του καλύπτει την βουβωνική χώρα. Όπως έγραψε η Judith Watt στο περιοδικό Vogue (On Schiaparelli, 2012), ο αστακός σχετίστηκε από κάποιους με τον συμβολισμό της γυναικείας σεξουαλικότητας σαν κάτι αρπακτικό και εν δυνάμει ευνουχιστικό.

dali-lobster
Salvador Dalí by George Platt Lynes for the Dream of Venus, 1939

Το σχέδιο του Νταλί μεταφέρθηκε στο μεταξένιο ύφασμα από τον σχεδιαστή Ζάχε, που αργότερα συνεργάστηκε με κορυφαίους μόδιστρους και σχεδιαστές μόδας όπως ο Βάσκος Μπαλενσιάγκα. Η τότε βοηθός της Schiaparelli Bettina Bergery αναφέρει «Ο Σαλβαντόρ ήθελε να αλείψει το φόρεμα με μαγιονέζα. Πίστευε ότι ήταν μια έκφραση ερωτικής παράνοιας, όμως η Schiaparelli δεν τον άφησε, λέγοντας ότι οι πελάτες της δεν ήθελαν τέτοια.” Η πρόθεση του Νταλί τονίζει την μοναδικότητα αλλά και το φθαρτό του φορέματος, ίσως όμως και την αντίληψη ότι τα έργα μόδας δεν είναι πραγματική τέχνη, είναι σαν τα τρόφιμα, αναλώσιμα, ενώ η Schiaparelli ήθελε να αφήσει κάτι πίσω της, όταν θα έχει αποβιώσει, και βέβαια θεωρούσε τα έργα της έργα τέχνης.
Η Wallis φόρεσε για πρώτη φορά το αστακο-φόρεμα την 2 Μαϊου 1937 σε ένα πύργο στον ποταμό Λίγηρα της Γαλλίας. Την φωτογράφισε ο φωτογράφος Cecil Beaton. Ο πύργος ανήκε σε ένα Αμερικανό επιχειρηματία που ήταν ο ιθύνων νους της περιοδείας που πραγματοποίησε το ζευγάρι στη ναζιστική Γερμανία το 1937.

Walis Wilson, photographed by Cecil Beaton
Walis Wilson, photographed by Cecil Beaton

Το φόρεμα είναι μοναδικό, δεν υπάρχει δεύτερο, και σήμερα ανήκει στην συλλογή του Μουσείου Τέχνης της Φιλαδέλφειας στις ΗΠΑ, όπου όμως δεν εκτίθεται. Η Wallis μετά το 1937 επέστρεψε το φόρεμα στην Schiaparelli που το κράτησε μέχρι το 1969 όταν το δώρισε το φόρεμα στο Μουσείο. Υπάρχει και μια εκδοχή του φορέματος σε φορεσιά που είναι σαν ποδιά, στην οποία η ίδια ζωγραφιά έχει τυπωθεί σε λινό ύφασμα.
Η Wallis διετήρησε την φιλία της με την Schiaparelli για τα επόμενα 40 χρόνια, και παρόλο ότι ο οίκος μόδας της Schiaparelli έκλεισε το 1954, η Wallis δεν έγινε ποτέ πελάτισσα της Chanel για να μην στενοχωρήσει την φίλη της. Εκτός των ενδυμάτων που σχεδιασε, η Schiaparelli δημιούργησε και το δικό της χρώμα, το Schiaparelli ροζ, που είναι πολύ μπροστά από τις αισθητικές αντιλήψεις υψηλής ενδύσεως της εποχής της.

Schiaparelli Pink