Dali’s initial plan was to illustrate a number of songs by Georges Brassens, shown with his guitar on the first etchings, singing the feminine body. However, the singer’s agent recommended so many changes, that Dali shifted themes, and turned “Les Tranchées” into a military ground, where time seems at a standstill, like a “Montre Molle” rock.Seeing in the plates a correlation with the 1914-1918 war, Pierre Argillet suggested that Dali illustrate instead the “Poèmes Secrets” by Apollinaire. From then on, the series took a more unconventional, more Surrealist turn, with compositions like “La Femme à l’Escargot”, “La Femme à la Fontaine” covered by giant ants, and “L’Homme au Tiroir”, who ends up devouring his guitar.
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