Reflecting on the origins of the paired, interlocking soft forms in this print, Dalí recalled his process of arranging pebbles collected from the beach. ‘I very much like the effect created simply by placing the pebbles with the rounded and flesh-like contours one on top of the other, while attempting to match their concavities and convexities in poses evoking the couplings of love’. While the sexual symbolism of Composition with Chair and Inkstand is evident, it is altogether more disturbing than Dalí’s description suggests. It features those motifs of disembodied limbs, penetration and implied sexual violence which are typical of the artist’s work during this period.