The Doll
Hans Bellmer
1934–35 · Gelatin silver print · Photographs
Bellmer's obsession with dolls-his endless fabrication, reconstitution, and photographic presentation of them-was an effort to construct objects that would articulate his tortured desires in material form. The bizarre, robotic temptress in this negative print has an eerie electric aura. To love her, one would have to have, as the Surrealist poet Pierre Reverdy wrote, a "short circuit in the heart-system."
- Artist
- Hans Bellmer
- Date
- 1934–35
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Department
- Photographs
- Credit line
- Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987
![[Interior with Sculpture]](https://d2pvxr3eb77vb4.cloudfront.net/assets/v1/c4/c4c1ff2c794ea6f2bf7ddd04aaf98d047b31d8c448c86217e81346cad0f6e7c5/graph.webp)
![[Main in pajamas juxtaposed to woman in pantyhose]](https://d2pvxr3eb77vb4.cloudfront.net/assets/v1/28/28fead4803078bfee38a3bd4c05f1934094d42da5d737487451105a55210d82b/graph.webp)