ALS in French, signed “S. Dali,” one page, 6 x 9, no date. Handwritten letter to a friend, with a desirable sketch by the artist in the upper right corner: a simple landscape scene depicting two figures in the foreground, pointing at an enormous sun overhead. Dali writes, in part (translated): "You know that there are periods when just the thought of writing a letter plunges me into feelings of anguish? All that you have written me proves to me that you live in a mental climate of unsteady reality. Very interested to know that you are nearer to 'The Critical Paranoiac Activity.' Two sparkling sciences dealing with the Ruins of Marxism - Biology and Morphology." Dali states that he will be in Paris for two months, preparing the "paranoid spectacle of 'Tristan Fou' with music by Wagner and Friedrich Nietzsche." He asks his friend to advance him more money towards the painting, because "money melts like magic there." In fine condition, with a small hole to the lower right corner affecting one word of text.
The 'paranoiac ballet' adaptation of Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde was written by Dali in 1936-38, but production and performance was stalled until 1944. Dali enacted total control over the project: he wrote Tristan Fou’s libretto, designed the stage and costumes, directed the play, and choreographed the entire piece in collaboration with Leonide Massine. After premiering with the Grand Ballet in New York City, the "paranoid spectacle" traveled to London, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Venice, and Paris between 1949 and 1958.
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