The artwork “Lobster Telephone”, created by famed Surrealist artist Salvador Dali between approximately 1936 and 1938, is an iconic piece of the Surrealist movement. This sculpture is part of the “Lobster/Aphrodisiac Telephone” series and is housed at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, UK. As a genre, it blurs the lines between the utilitarian and the absurd, capturing the imagination with its unexpected combination.
The artwork features a classic black rotary telephone onto which a sizable lobster, painted in a vivid shade of red, is affixed where the receiver would normally rest. The lobster’s tail extends elegantly over the end of the telephone, while its claws and body seem poised in a natural resting state. This juxtaposition of a mundane object with something organic and unrelated creates a dreamlike, disorienting effect typical of Dali’s work.
Dali effectively combines the familiar with the bizarre, inviting interpretation and psychoanalytic inquiry, typical of the Surrealist’s fascination with the subconscious. The telephone, a symbol of communication, is rendered unusable by the placement of the lobster, itself connoting ideas of luxury, sexuality, and a touch of the grotesque given the context. With Surrealism’s penchant for confronting the rational world with the irrational, “Lobster Telephone” exists both as a sculpture and as a provocative statement, challenging viewers to question the boundaries of art, utility, and symbolism.
