  About the Artwork
  
  
  With Squirrel, Meret Oppenheim continued the dada and surrealist traditions of modifying prefabricated found objects for artistic purposes in so-called assisted readymades. In this work, a beer glass with imitation foam paired with a bushy tail produce the playful form of an animal body that can be simultaneously read as a beer mug. This new object hints at the antirational, absurd, and marvelous, while also prompting the sensual and erotic associations evoked by animal fur. While Oppenheim’s artworks, often derived from dreams, appear whimsical, Squirrel may also be seen as a confrontation of nature (an animal) and culture (a glass), which the artist sought to resolve through her work.   


Oppenheim first made Squirrel in 1960, shortly after emerging from a twenty-four-year creative hiatus. In 1969, she issued an edition of Squirrel in one hundred copies.
  
  
  Title
  Squirrel
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1960, edition 1969
  
  
  
  
  Makers
  
  
  Meret Oppenheim  (Artist)
  Swiss, 1913-1985
  (Publisher)
  La Medusa Grafica
  
  
  
  Medium
  Glass, plastic foam, fur
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 9 × 6 × 3 1/2 inches (22.9 × 15.2 × 8.9 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Sculpture
  
  
  Department
  European Modern Art to 1970
  
  
  Credit
  Gift of the Lila and Gilbert Silverman Collection
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  2023.510
  
  
  Copyright
  © Estate of Meret Oppenheim / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
