Dali art

The Lobster Telephone is Dali’s most celebrated surrealist object. It combines two images that often appear in his work at this time. For example: in the Enigma of Hitler he painted a huge telephone with the mouthpiece taking the shape of a lobsters’ claw. Dali saw the forms as interchangeable, once writing, "I do not understand why, when I ask for a grilled lobster…I am never served with a cooked telephone." The aim of the object was to surprise and confront the spectator by offering an alternative view of reality. Dali wanted to ensure the viewer became personally involved in the work by causing them to question the significance of the object and the thoughts and feelings that it aroused. Lobster Telephone brings together two ordinary objects in way that had never been seen before. The object causes the viewer to question the seemingly innocent telephone by combining it with the vivid red lobster. The claws of...