Mae West Lips Sofa

The Mae West Lips Sofa is the centerpiece of an installation at the Dalí Theatre and Museum

The Mae West Lips Sofa is a surrealist sculpture in the form of a sofa by Salvador Dalí. The light red, 86.5 x 183 x 81.5 cm (34 x 72 x 32 in) sized seating furniture made of wood and satin was shaped in 1937 after the lips of actress Mae West, whom Dalí apparently found fascinating.^[1] Dalí never intended for the sofa to serve a functional use. He also claimed that he partly based the design of the sofa on a pile of rocks near Cadaqués and Portlligat, where he stayed for many years with his wife, Gala Éluard Dalí.

Edward James, a rich British patron of the Surrealists in the 1930s, originally commissioned this piece from Dalí. It is now part of the art collections at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.^[2] Another version is on display at the Dalí Theatre and Museum in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain.^[3]

In 1972, Italian designer group Studio 65 produced an updated version to Dalí's Mae West Lips Sofa, called the Marilyn Bocca Sofa in honor of pretty actress Marilyn Monroe.^[4] Unlike Dalí's original work, the Marilyn Bocca Sofa has a more practical use in the home, and has become an icon of classic modern design.^[5]

See also

• Lobster Telephone
• Rainy Taxi

References