Sculptures of Salvador Dali Automatic translate

The fruits of Dali’s creative genius in three-dimensional space: the most famous and iconic images of the artist embodied in bronze.

The Erarta Museum presents an exhibition of sculptures by Salvador Dali, the most famous surrealist artist in the world. In addition to painting, Dali left a contribution in a wide variety of areas of art. He was widely recognized as a writer, illustrator, jewelry designer, director and sculptor. An in-depth study of Dali’s work with sculpture was the goal of this exhibition.

The founders and adepts of surrealism as an artistic movement sought to challenge rational ideas and push the boundaries of their imagination. Andre Breton coined the term in his 1924 Surrealism Manifesto. According to him, surrealism must combine conscious and unconscious experiences, spheres of sleep, fantasy and reality, and thus create a kind of “absolute reality, surrealism” (from French.sur - above, that is, “over-realism”, “over -realism").

Despite the fact that Dali is best known for his drawings and paintings, an important direction of the artist’s work was the creation of a collection of bronze museum sculptures, on which he worked between 1934 and 1987. In an effort to cross the boundaries of the two-dimensional space of the canvas, Dali turned to sculpture, which allowed him to most fully realize his surrealistic vision and artistic forms in space. Dali himself created the original models and designs cast in bronze during the life of the artist. All sculptures were cast at renowned international foundries in Europe under the direction of Dali using the wax model technique. This method, also known as “cire-perdue” (fr. “With lost wax”), involves pouring molten metal into a mold made using a wax model. After making the mold, the wax model melts and coalesces.

This summer, the Erart Museum will have a look at the sculptures that reinterpret some of Dali’s most iconic works. In particular, the three-meter bronze Cosmic Elephant presented here echoes the 1946 painting Temptation of St. Anthony. Dali’s elephants stand on filamentous polyarticular legs and are usually depicted carrying objects on their backs. According to Dali, elephants personify strength and future, especially when they are loaded with obelisks, symbolizing power and superiority. At the same time, they have something supernatural, some kind of metaphysical imbalance, because their fragile, long legs should not withstand the severity of the obelisk.

To his most famous image, a soft watch, Dali returned in several works, including The Constancy of Memory of 1931 and The Soft Watch of 1954. "The nobility of time" is their sculptural equivalent. At the exhibition, he will be presented in his monumental form in size of 4, 9 meters. The “melting” clock becomes a symbol of the ubiquity of time and its power over people, the inevitability of its movement in only one direction. Time dominates both art and reality.

This exhibition is part of the Dali Collection, assembled by Dali Universe President Benyamino Levy, a passionate collector and expert on Dali’s work. The monumental sculptures that will be presented in Erarta were shown around the world, including on Place Vendome in Paris (1995), Piazza dell’Accademia in Florence (2013), Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills (2016) and Time- Warner Center in New York (2010-2011).

Benyamino Levy was the first to introduce to the Italian public such world-famous artists as Miro, Magritte, Masson, Kandinsky, de Chirico, Picasso and Dali. During the exhibition of surrealists in the Levy Gallery in 1960, the collector met Dali and since then he often met with the artist in Paris, New York, and came to his house in Spain. Levi was delighted with the early sculptures of Dali brought from the Paris Gallery, and supported the desire of the master of surrealism to return to the sculptural form. He ordered the artist a series of bronze sculptures based on scenes from the most famous paintings of the surrealist. Levy gives lectures and is the author of works on this subject. In addition, he has published an exhaustive book on the Dali Sculpture Collection.

The Erarta Museum is pleased to announce that Benyamino Levy will attend the opening, where he will talk about his research and travels with Salvador Dali.

Biography of Salvador Dali:

Salvador Dali was born in Spain on May 11, 1904 in the city of Figueres. From an early age, Dali was considered artistically gifted, and his studies in art were encouraged. In 1922, Dali went to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid, where he gained fame for his eccentricity and dendism. He was influenced by several different artistic movements, including cubism. Shortly before the final exams in 1926, Dali was accused of organizing riots and expelled from the academy. In the 20s, Dali visited and worked in Paris, where he spoke with artists such as Picasso, Magritte and Miro, which was the impetus for the first phase of Dali’s surrealism.

In August 1929, Dali met his main muse, source of inspiration and future wife Gala, who was a Russian immigrant and ten years older than the artist. They got married in 1934. After the fascist leader Francisco Franco came to power in Spain, the artist was expelled from the group of surrealists, but this did not prevent him from continuing his artistic work. Salvador Dali died in Figueres from heart failure in 1989 at the age of 84.