Special Exhibition: Picasso/Dali, Dali/Picasso

Salvador Dalí (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989) was a prominent Spanish surrealist  painter born in Figueres, Spain. Dalí was a technically skilled artist, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work. Dalí was highly imaginative, and also enjoyed indulging in unusual and grandiose behavior. His eccentric manner and attention-grabbing public actions sometimes drew more attention than his artwork, to the dismay of those who held his work in high esteem, and to the irritation of his critics.

Bay Oaks Social Seniors visited the Special Exhibition, “Picasso/Dali, Dali/Picasso,” at the Dali Museum in St Petersburg in January, 2015. Both Picasso and Dali were born in Spain, Picasso in 1881 and Dali 23 years later in 1904. Picasso and Dali first met in 1926, when Picasso, who was already famous, welcomed the young Dali into his Paris studio. Both artists were involved with Surrealism, and both artists were affected by the Spanish Civil War as well as by the great political events of the 20th century.

The exhibit consists of 92 works of art that span the careers of both artists. Select artwork of each artist is placed side by side according to his interpretation of  common themes and imagery. Self portraits by  Dali and Picasso are among the works by both artists exhibited side by side.  Women are an important influence for both of the artists, as shown by “Portrait of Olga (1917),” Picasso's wife, and Dali's “Portrait of My Sister” (1923). In the final gallery, both men show the influence of the 17th century Spanish painter Diego Velázquez, as both artists have created paintings with similar subjects — dwarfs, jesters, and the Enfanta (king’s daughter.)

April, Joanne, Dan, Jean and Kathy at the museum entrance

Salvador Dali's signature is seen on the outside of the museum. The thirty-five million dollar Dali Museum was built on the downtown waterfront and opened on 1-11-11 at 11:11 am. (Dali was born on May 11.) A giant man-made boulder, of the kind that may be found in Dalí’s homeland, appears to support a corner of the building.

Becky joined the group in front of the museum.

Kathy waiting for the group to enter the museum

Jean, April and Joanne in front of the living wall of tropical plants, including ferns and bromeliads

The Dali Museum gift shop

 It is very large and jam-packed with all things Dali. You have to enter the museum through the gift shop and wend your way through the aisles of items to get to the ticket sales booth. Also located on the ground floor is the Gala Café  and Audio Guide desk. The T-shirts shown here have a reproduction of Dali’s “Hallucinogenic Toreador.”

The “flaming” giraffe recurs in Dali’s paintings. Dalí described the giraffe with its back on fire as “the masculine cosmic apocalyptic monster.” He believed it to be a premonition of war.

It may look like a  fantastical mane, but it’s really the animal’s back ablaze. 

A giant-sized praying mantis is suspended from the ceiling of the gift shop. It was the subject of Dali's painting, “Cannibalism of the Praying Mantis of Lautreamont.” The praying mantis had a sinister symbolism to surrealists because the female praying mantis devours the male after mating with him.

Gift Shop Wall of Posters of Dali's paintings

The Café Gala, named in honor of Dali’s wife,  is located in front of a wall of windows and looks out on the Avant-Garden.

Kathy, Dan, Joanne, Mike and April grab a bite to eat before visiting the museum.

Becky at the foot of the spiral staircase

The main galleries are on the third floor atop the 75-foot “Helical Staircase. “ The spiral staircase was inspired by Dali, who was fascinated by spiral forms in nature. It was created to resemble a strand of DNA.

After climbing the helix, we were able to look out over the waterfront of Tampa Bay.

A view of the window wall/atrium on the  top floor

The glass paneling was designed by architect Yann Weymouth, who had a hand in creating the glass pyramid at the Louvre in Paris.

The Dali Museum was founded with the works collected by Reynolds and Eleanor Morse. The collection was originally located in Cleveland, Ohio, where the Morses lived,  but was moved to St. Petersburg in 1982.

“The Lane to Port Lligat with View of Cap Creus,” 1921 - Post Impressionism 

In his early years, Dali tried painting in a variety of styles, including Impressionism, Post Impressionism and Cubism. In this painting, you can see the play of sunlight on the scene, creating brightness and shadows, a key feature in Impressionism. In Post-Impressionism, each artist took an aspect of Impressionism and exaggerated it.

“Cadaques,” 1923 - Post-Impressionism 

This region of Spain is located in the northeastern province of Catalonia, where Dali spent summers as a boy and later made his home as an adult. The wind-swept olive trees and rolling hills of the landscape are the setting for the young women in the foreground. Dali’s younger sister, Ana Maria, was the model for each of the figures in the work. Except for his eight years in exile during World War II, Dali lived in this part of Spain his entire life, always returning after his annual visits to America and France.

“Study of a Nude,” 1925 - Post-Impressionism 

In this painting, Dali experimented with  pointillism, using color dots placed close together to create the illusion of a single blended color.

“The Basket of Bread,” 1926 - Realism

The painting was completed in 1926, when Dalí was twenty-two. He had just finished his formal art class in Madrid, where he was studying the Dutch Masters. He created this work to prove his technical skill as a painter by creating the realism achieved by his role models, particularly Jan Vermeer. The  realism of “The Basket of Bread” was a major achievement because it gave Dali a sense of mastery of traditional painting. Henceforth, he was free to explore more difficult subject matter and imagery. 

“The Average Bureaucrat,” 1930 - Surrealism

The painting is a representation of Dali’s father, with whom he had a difficult relationship. The image shows a bald man with an indentation in his head that is filled with seashells. The seashells represent the lack of understanding that he believed his father to exhibit.

Detail of “The Average Bureaucrat” 

In the background of the image are 2 small figures that represent the close relationship Dali had with his father when he was a boy. 

Our docent and Dali’s self-portrait, “Daddy Longlegs of the Evening--Hope!”

“Daddy Longlegs of the Evening--Hope!” 1939 - Surrealism 

The daddy longlegs spider, when seen in the evening, is a French symbol for hope. This is a self-portrait of Dalí surrounded by the elements of war.  It is the first painting Dali completed in the US after he and Gala sought refuge here during World War II. When Reynolds and Eleanor Morse married in 1943, they bought this painting, their first Dali,  as a wedding present to themselves. 

“Dyonisus Spitting the Complete Image of the Cadaques on the Tip of the Tongue of a Three-storied Gaudian woman,” 1958 - Surrealism

This little oil with superb detail is only about 12 by 9 inches. The technique represents realism, pointillism, abstraction and, of course, surrealism.  

“The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus,” 1958-1959 - Surrealism

This is one of the masterworks in the Dali Museum. The museum is home to more of the 18 “masterwork paintings” by Dalí, than any other museum in the world. To be considered a masterwork these paintings must measure at least 5 feet in any direction, and have been worked on for over a year. This painting is more than 14 feet tall.

The center of the painting is dominated by a young Columbus who is leading one of his ships onto the shoreline of the New World. He holds in his right hand a standard on which the face of Gala is depicted in the pose of St. Helena, the mother of Constantine. To the right of Columbus is a kneeling figure of a monk, who is actually Dali.

“The Ecumenical Council,” 1958-1960 -  Surrealism  

It took two years to complete and is very large at eight feet by 10 feet. The painting contains art history references and religious scenes emphasizing Catholic symbolism.

Detail of “The Ecumenical Council” 

Dali didn’t sign this canvas--instead, he included a self-portrait with a blank canvas.

  “Galacidalacidesoxyribonucleicacid” OR “Homage to Crick and Watson,” 1963 - Surrealism

(Crick and Watson were the discoverers of DNA. )  The painting's title is a fusion of the name of Dalí's wife, Gala Dali, and Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). It is a tribute to Francis Crick and James D. Watson,  who determined the double helical  structure of DNA in 1953. The painting depicts 3 parts of existence--life, death and the afterlife. Gala Dalí is depicted in the foreground of the painting, with her back to the viewer.

“Portrait of My Dead Brother,” 1963 - Op Art

The painting depicts the older brother of the artist, who was also named Salvador. The older Salvador died at the age of two. Almost nine months to the day later, Dali was born, but he felt all his life that, to some extent, he was only living in the shadow of the adored first child.

The Hallucinogenic Toreador, 1968-1970 - Neoclassicism 

This is a double image painting that repeats the image of Venus de Milo in such a way that the shadows form the features of the toreador.

“Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea Which at Eighteen Metres Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln,” 1976 - Op Art  

This painting is approximately 6 ¼ feet x 8 ¼ feet. Unlike most artists, Dali liked naming his works using very long names rather than just brief descriptions. When you look at this painting from a distance, it becomes a portrait of Abraham Lincoln. The painting plays tricks on my camera, but  if you move back from the computer screen and squint a bit, you can see Lincoln’s face quite clearly.

Entrance to the Dali/Picasso exhibit 

Unfortunately, photo-taking was not allowed, even without flash.

Exhibit sign

The exhibition, Picasso/Dali, Dali/Picasso, explores the relationship between these two iconic figures of 20th-century art by placing together each artist’s works of similar periods and inspirations. 

The glass dome rises 75 feet from the plaza.

 

The Avant-Garden patio is behind the museum.

The Dali Bench with a melting clock 

It is believed that melting clocks refer to Einstein's theory about time being relative and not fixed, with some melting cheese believed to have given the artist the idea for including these objects within his paintings.

The Picasso-inspired Bench

Labyrinth

Dali was an artist who appreciated geometric elegance and symmetrical harmonies. Unlike a maze, there are no wrong turns in the Labyrinth. Seven-foot tall walls of podocarpus shrubs make up the spiral labyrinth, which has a beginning and an end and one path to get to the 25-ft. Italian cypress at its center.

Dali Museum Wish Tree

On the back of their admissions wristbands, people from around the world have penned their hopes, do-overs and dreams. Every few months, museum workers harvest the wishes and type them into a computer file: 

"Lots of money, camera, lunch box." 

"I wish for a great career in real estate!" 

"I wish I would get my first kiss!" 

"I wish I was cool like Dalí and had my own anteater. Or could afford to go to Cambridge." 

""I wish I will get the courage to do things for myself." 

"I wish for him to fall in love with me." 

“To lead a friend to meet God." 

A sign explaining the Wish Tree

Dali’s Moustache  

Dali considered his moustache a work of art. It made him instantly recognizable and gave him the flamboyant look he was known for.

Dolphin 

The Dali Museum had a  “Name the Dolphin Contest” in September, 2014. The names of the finalists were:

“The Hallucinogenic Dali Phin” (sounds like “dolphin,” kind of)

“Festivo” (“playful” in Spanish)

“Sir Reel”   (sounds like “surreal“)

"Festivo" was the name that won, but I kind of liked one that wasn’t a finalist, “Hello Dali”

The window wall undulates around the building. The structure is called, “The Glass Enigma, “ after  Dalí’s The Enigma of Desire,” and the smaller free-form system is the “Igloo.” They are built with 1,062 unique triangular glass panels framed by 3,000 steel pieces. No two glass panels are identical.