Secret Poems By Apollinaire

Dali’s initial plan was to illustrate a number of songs by Georges Brassens, shown with his guitar on the first etchings, singing the feminine body. However, the singer’s agent recommended so many changes, that Dali shifted themes, and turned “The Trenches” into a military ground, where time seems at a standstill, like a “Soft Watch” rock. Seeing in the plates a correlation with the 1914-1918 war, Pierre Argillet suggested that Dali illustrate instead the “Secret Poems” by Apollinaire. From then on, the series took a more unconventional, more Surrealist turn, with compositions like “Woman with Snail”, “Woman at Fountain” covered by giant ants, and “The Drawers”, who ends up devouring his guitar.