Table

1934
Not on view
Little is known about the designer of this table, which is both a functional piece of furniture and a fantastical Surrealist sculpture. The glass tabletop rests improbably atop small balls balanced on the tips of three delicately tapering fingers, generating a sensation of tension and unease. Disembodied hands and gloves are recurrent motifs in Surrealist art, with the left hand, in particular, symbolizing the irrational. The cloudlike element from which the hand emerges also suggests a transition from the conscious to the subconscious world.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Table
  • Artist: Costa Achillopoulo (active in England, ca. 1930–75)
  • Date: 1934
  • Medium: Painted wood, gesso, glass, metal screws
  • Dimensions: 28 3/8 × 23 5/8 in., 35 lb. (72 × 60 cm, 15.9 kg)
  • Classification: Furniture
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Lita Annenberg Hazen Charitable Trust Gift, in memory of J. Stewart Johnson, 2006
  • Object Number: 2006.143a, b
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.