Lobster Telephone

Dalí's Lobster Telephone from 1936 places a plaster lobster where a telephone receiver should go. The juxtaposition creates Surrealist disorientation: the domestic object becomes uncanny, the familiar made strange.

Dalí saw erotic connections between lobsters and telephones, though he never fully explained the association. British collector Edward James commissioned several versions for his home. The object embodies Surrealism's interest in disrupting everyday reality. It's officially titled "Aphrodisiac Telephone." Several versions exist; Tate owns one.