The riddle of Wilhelm Tell, painted by Salvador Dali in 1933, is one of the great surrealist’s most emblematic paintings. As you know, in the paintings of Dali, Wilhelm Tell is a symbol of his father, who deprived his son of his inheritance. But the artist portrayed Tell as Vladimir Lenin. This mystery can be easily explained: Dali wanted to anger the society of surrealists, who respected the ideas of the leader of the world proletariat. And so it happened: at an exhibition held in 1934, the former colleges of Salvador Dali tried to tear the canvas, but Dali, who was expecting provocations, specially hung it very high. After that, following the results of a friendly trial, Dali was expelled from the creative group. But the great artist was not at all upset, because a conflict had long been brewing between him and the society of artists – Dali was sure that only he was able to save art from decline.

Year of painting: 1933.

Dimensions of the painting: 201.5 x 346 cm.

Material: canvas.

Writing technique: oil.

Genre: symbolic painting.

Style: surrealism.

Gallery: Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden.