I remember that the first thing we saw was video screens depicting the countryside where Dalí grew up. The strange, weather-eroded stone grouping that clustered around the fishing village were the inspiration for many of Dalí's landscapes. It was nice, but I wanted to see some art, not some rocks! Get a move on, people!!!
And then we realised: we had spent the entire afternoon queueing up for the show, so we'd got stuck into the "single file" mentality. Naturally, once we were in the show, we could wander around at our leisure. So, we did!
The gallery was full of people, so I had to peek over everyone's shoulders and admire the artwork from a distance. Most of the art in the first room was from Dalí's early period, which I recognised, but wasn't really interested in - until I saw Self-Portrait with Raphaelesque Neck.
And then it hit me - I was finally looking at an actual Dalí. Wow.
I went onward, and saw paintings and works that I'd only ever seen in glossy picture books, but now, they were real. They were beautiful. They were... absolutely tiny!
Seriously, though. This one!: Portrait of Gala with Two Lamb Chops in Equilibrium on Her Shoulder. In a book, it looks like it would be at least the size of an A3 piece of paper, right? It's been painted on a block of wood smaller than a postcard.
But jeezus, the detail. You had to peer very closely to make out all the texture he's bothered to put into it. You would have to wonder why? but then realise that that was how he worked - he would not be satisfied with anything less.
I got to see so many other artworks that I knew. It was like running into old friends.
Hey, there's Memory of the Child-Woman - long time no see! Glad to hear you've been allowed back after all that trouble that came up the last time you were here.
Oh, did you get to see The First Days of Spring? And look, there's Three Young Surrealist Women Holding in Their Arms The Skins of an Orchestra! And - hey! - welcome, Slave Market with Apparition of the Invisible Bust of Voltaire! We're so glad you could come...
Yes, I know - the titles of the paintings are, well, surreal. That's kind of the point, though, isn't it?
Even though it wasn't the complete collection of Dalí works (and how that would be possible to assemble I could never imagine), there was so much to see within the exhibition. The layout curved and twirled around, as it progressed through Dalí's styles and trends. One section had his earlier works, the next would have sketches and sculptures, and the next would have screens showing film projects for which Dalí had scripted scenes. Dalí's vision extended over many different media - he wasn't just a painter or sculptor, he was an artist.
Here's some more of the stuff that I liked:
- Lobster Telephone - hello? :D
- Destino, a movie collaboration between Dalí and Walt Disney! It was originally conceived way back in 1945, but was only completed in 2003 due to technical and financial reasons. (It was almost part of a Fantasia movie, but was instead released as a cinematic short.)
Click here to watch it. I won't embed it directly, because I don't know whether the link will still be there later on - copyright reasons, and all that. - There were also a selection of Dalí's jewellery designs on show. They had a display of his animated jewel piece The Royal Heart, which was a ruby-encrusted mechanism that would beat much like an actual heart. They only showed that as a video, because the original is so fantastically fragile that it would probably break if they'd brought it over.
- They also had some footage of 3-Dimensional holograms of Dalí and Gala that he had created. The other one they had was of Alice Cooper with a snake(!). Oh, and they had also set up a display of one of his stereoscopic paintings, which turned into a 3-D image when looked at in the correct way (much like the Magic Eye pictures from about ten years ago). I didn't get time to see that one, because there was a queue for the viewing apparatus, and I'd had enough of that lining-up rubbish for the day!
- The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory was there. In fact, it would probably be the most recognisable of Dalí's artworks, next to the original work it was based on. I know one of my friends really wanted to see the "soft watches" for some reason. Actually, so did I - but I really wanted to see the first one, too. Well, I guess I'll have to take a trip to New York to check that one out!
- Near the exit was The Ecumenical Council, which was HUGE. It was as large as you would expect a painting with that much detail to be - it was practically a mural. But a highly-detailed, labour-of-love, probably-took-years-off-his-life mural.
- And right near the exit was Dalí's final painting, The Swallow's Tail. An understated work, but beautiful nonetheless. He survived until 1989, but after his beloved Gala died in '83, he lost his passion for life. This painting was made in the year after her death.
Anyway, one more post to go!
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By the way, most of these links are courtesy of Olga's Gallery and Virtual Dalí. The rest are random links and Wikipedia entries, but feel free to explore those if you wish.
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