05/12/2025
Salvador Dali - Benjamin, 1972
Drypoint etching and pochoir with colour by stencil on wove paper
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About the work:
On 14th May 1948 in Tel Aviv, after the British withdrew from Palestine, the Jewish Agencies Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel as the first Jewish settlement in 2000 years. The State of Israel was broken up into 12 states which were named after the twelve tribes according to the Hebrew Bible (Deuteronomy 33:25 & Judges 5:14-18).
In 1972, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, Dali created an elegant and brightly rendered suite of thirteen etchings. This portfolio, entitled The Twelve Tribes of Israel, explored the themes of exile and return surrounding Jewish history, faith and mythology. This artistic rendition illustrated the Tribes through their descendants into the Third Jewish Commonwealth, after two thousand years of exile. Each etching represented one of these tribes which were named for Jacob’s brothers: Joseph, Zebulun, Gad, Judah, Asher, Dan, Benjamin, Reuben, Naphtali, Levi, Issacar, and Simeon.
The Book of Numbers teaches us that each Tribe had its own characteristic symbol used in its encampment: “The sons of Israel shall camp, each by his own standard, with the banners of their father’s households; they shall camp around the tent of meeting at a distance” (The Book of Numbers 2:7).
The portfolio was highly celebrated, and considered by many to be Dali’s most diplomatic work in its sensitive reference to one of the most contentious socio-political developments of the modern era. Its significance to the contemporary world lay in its attempt to represent a new generation of Judaism.
