In 1957, the eminent publisher Joseph Foret came to Salvador Dali with an impressive load of lithographic stones and the idea of creating an extraordinary set of illustrations of the famous book by Miguel Cervantes ‘Don Quichotte’. Dali used an unusual technique, which gained popularity after the book was published. Instead of pencil and paint, Dali used an air gun packed with ink. The gun shot right at the plain lithographic stone giving the basis for Dali’s inspiration. Faithful to his habits, Dalí approached this technique experimentally. For his own ‘Don Quichotte’ he did not hesitate even to dip snails in the color so that they leave traces on the stone. Therefore, the works were created spontaneously, the incipit was given by chance.

Salvador Dalí expressed his surrealist vision of universal poetic and literary themes through his vast repertoire of images, characters, and allegories. In his characters Dalí revealed himself as an indisputable master of graphic arts, always renewing his technique, his drawings, and his colors.
Don Quixote reads in the silence of his study, where there is a glowing and gray light at once, peculiar to the furious combat that Egeries and Erynnies are engaged in in the smoky imagination of the old hidalgo.

Reference: “The Official Catalog of the Graphic Works of Salvador Dali” by Albert Field.
Ref.57-1- J, pages 123-125. Published by The Salvador Dali Archives.