Drypoint etching from 1969.
The edition XLIV/C on Japon paper.
Dimensions of work: 66 x 51 cm.
Hand signed.
Publisher: Pierre Argillet, Paris.
Printer: Atelier Robbe, Paris.
Reference: Field 69-13 H; Michler/Löpsinger 382.
The work is in Excellent condition.
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Santiago de Compostela belongs to Salvador Dalí’s celebrated portfolio The Hippies, published by Pierre Argillet in Paris and printed at Atelier Robbe between 1969 and 1970. Executed as a drypoint etching with hand coloring on Arches and Japon nacré paper, the work formed part of the tirage of 245 examples plus 24 proofs — numbered 1/145–145/145 on Arches, and I/C–C/C on Japon. Each impression was hand-signed in pencil by Dalí and bears his blindstamp.
In this composition, Dalí transforms the sacred journey to the shrine of St. James into a visionary allegory of spiritual awakening. The city of Compostela — a medieval symbol of pilgrimage and rebirth — becomes, in Dalí’s hands, a landscape of metamorphosis: figures blend with arches, clouds spiral into halos, and light descends like revelation. The image evokes the passage of the soul from matter toward illumination, echoing both the mystical aspirations of the hippie generation and the artist’s own fascination with transcendence.
