The plant itself may even echo Lautréamont's umbrella. There is a strange abusive surgery being undertaken, the thread of the sewing machine replaced with blood which is being funnelled onto the woman's back.
In Machine à coudre électro-sexuelle, the dissection appears to be under way. The relationship between Machine à coudre électro-sexuelle and the Parisian Surrealists is clear from the theme itself, for this picture appears to be Domínguez's own twisted re-imagining of the celebrated phrase, 'Beautiful as the chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissecting table.' These words, taken from the Chants de Maldoror, the poems by the nineteenth-century writer Isidore Ducasse, the so-called Comte de Lautréamont, were considered a vital precursor of the Surrealist spirit. It was initially owned by Eduardo Westerdahl, the main figure in the small Surrealist movement that had grown in Domínguez's native Canary Islands and the publisher of the Gaceta de Arte. The importance of Machine à coudre électro-sexuelle is reflected in its provenance and extensive exhibition history, which begins just after it was painted. This picture is filled with the unique atmosphere of sexuality and brutality that characterise the greatest of Domínguez's paintings, reflecting on his own troubled life and character while chiming perfectly with the weird and warped world of the Surrealists. Machine à coudre électro-sexuelle is one of Óscar Domínguez's most iconic masterpieces, dating from the exciting beginning of his association with André Breton and the Parisian Surrealists. London, Tate Modern, Surrealism: Desire Unbound, September 2001 - January 2002 (illustrated fig. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Máquinas, September - November, 2000. 101) this exhibition later travelled to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Centro de Arte La Granja, April - May 1996 and Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, June - September 1996. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Óscar Domínguez, Antológica 1926-1957, January - March 1996, no. Verona, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Dalí, Miró, Picasso e il Surrealismo Spagnolo, July - October 1995, no. Surrealismus in Spanien, 1924-1936, May - July 1995 (illustrated p. Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, El Surrealismo en España, October 1994 - January 1995, no. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, El Surrealismo entre Viejo y Nuevo Mundo, December 1989 - February 1990 (illustrated p. Paris, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Le siècle de Picasso, October - November 1987, no. 31 (illustrated).īern, Kunsthalle, Junggesellenmaschinen, les machines célibataires, July - August 1975 (illustrated p. 13 (illustrated).īarcelona, Galería Laietana, Óscar Domínguez, February - March 1974, no. Madrid, Galería Biosca, Óscar Domínguez, October - November 1973, no. 112 (illustrated) this exhibition later travelled to Paris, Musée des Arts décoratifs, June - September 1972, no. Munich, Haus der Kunst, Der Surrealismus, 1922-1942, March - May 1972, no. 75) this exhibition later travelled to Gothenburg, Konsthall, April - May 1970 Sundsvall, Museum, May - June 1970 and Malmö, Malmö Museum, June 1970.īordeaux, Galerie des Beaux Arts, Surréalisme, May - September 1971, no. Stockholm, Moderna Museet, Surrealism?, March - April 1970, no.
Hamburg, Malerei des Surrealismus, April - May 1969, no. Tel Aviv, Museum of Art, Surréalisme, December 1966 - January 1967, no. Santa Cruz, Círculo de Bellas Artes de Tenerife, La Exposición de Arte Contemporáneo, June 1936.