Welcome In 2019 With a DIY Art Project, Courtesy of Vogue and Salvador Dalí
Here’s an idea: Spend New Year’s with Salvador Dalí, the dashing Surrealist who was obsessed with time—as are all revelers during the 10, nine, eight . . . countdown as the ball drops and December melts into January.
The Surrealists deep dived into the subconscious where they gathered fragments of dreams and symbols that they collaged into their work. Accordingly, nothing is what it seems in Dalí’s paintings, where recognizable objects are imbued with opaque meanings. All this might sound complicated, but Surrealism was quite compatible; in fact, Dalí’s first shout-out in Vogue, in 1936, credited the artist with inspiring the drawer-like pockets designer Elsa Schiaparelli wittily added to her neatly tailored suits. In 1937, the pair would collaborate on the celebrated “lobster dress” Wallis Simpson was photographed in for the magazine.
Dalí was a fairly regular contributor to Vogue, and he created three original covers, the first in 1939 and the third in 1946 for the December 1 issue geared towards Christmas presents and holiday clothes. It’s sort of a landscape drawing: Under the logo stand two snow-covered pine trees that balance atop either side of a broken bridge from which hang two pendant emeralds. (Coincidentally, shoulder-duster earrings returned in 2018.) Below this structure is a pair of anthropomorphic columns, one set at the top of a flight of steps, the other on checkerboard tile. Though not quite a mirror image, there is a definite sense of symmetry to the whole, as well as a sense of suspense (and suspension). “The cover is Dalí . . . double Dalí,” read the caption. “A Christmas scene which can be seen two ways.” Readers were directed to take a peek and then page through to find “sleight-of-eye directions.” We invite you to do the same, without the page turning. Simply print out the cover following the instructions reprinted below. Happy New Year.
Download Vogue’s 1946 Double Dalí cover
Directions for merging the Double Dalí cover from the December 1, 1946 issue of Vogue
Making a face from a fantasy: We think the Double Dalí cover is as charming as it appears to be, one way or the other. And for those of you who like to give yourself optical illusions, here’s how to make a face from arches. The process—not as difficult as it may seem—has its rewards in sight. (For that matter, the cover itself is rewarding, so if you aren’t interested in illusions, just look again.)
Directions: Place the cover in a vertical position approximately three feet away. Hold a pencil up in front of the cover, sighting with the point on the two green jewels. Focus your eyes on the picture and you will see “two pencils,” one for each eye (out of focus). Move the pencil slowly back and forth until the tips of the “two pencils” are directly under the jewels. Then focus on the pencil point—and holding the focus, look at the picture. You will see the cover in three dimensions, with the arches converging to form a woman's face. If you have difficulty at first, cut a window 1 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches in a stiff sheet of paper. Focus with the pencil as before, then place the mask so the pencil tip is in the center of the window. . . . Look from the tip to the jewel, wait for the eyes to focus, now lower the pencil. The mask may be moved back toward the eyes until the entire picture is in view.
