“Salvador Dali: Magic Art” at Manege Central Exhibition Hall is the first comprehensive exhibition of the famous Spaniard in Russia. The Faberge Museum in St. Petersburg and “The Link of Times” Foundation (both belong to billionaire Viktor Vekselberg) brought to Moscow more than 180 works from different periods of Dali’s life — not just his trademark surrealistic pieces, but also impressionist and even cubist works.
The majority of artworks come from the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation in Figueres (Spain) and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid), as well as private European collections.
Jordi Mercader, Chairman of The Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation said at the press conference: “We wanted to show how important the personalities of Dali and [his wife] Gala themselves are, how they go beyond this exhibition. We are convinced that their vision of the world was so special that it is still relevant today.”
Apart from iconic paintings from his surrealist and nuclear mystical periods (including “The Invisible Man,” “Enigmatic Elements in a Landscape,” “Soft Self Portrait with Grilled Bacon” and “Maximum Speed of Raphael’s Madonna”), the exhibition features drawings, watercolors and engravings, some of which were shown at an exhibition at the Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg in 2017. A special section is devoted to Dali’s illustrations to his own book “50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship.” Thanks to the exhibition’s scale, it is possible to follow Dali’s whole creative career and to explore all stages of his development as a painter.
Montse Aguer, the Director of the Centre for Dalinian Studies and the exhibition’s curator, said at the press conference: “Dali knew very well the history of art, and in this exhibition we will see that many of his works contain references to the great masters — Vermeer, Velasquez, Michelangelo, Raphael — but we will also see that he loved to experiment.”
Montse Ague added: “Dali wanted to be immortal. These exhibitions and the number of people who waited in line to see it shows his popularity.” If ticket sales are any indication, it is already clear that this exhibition will be one of the main blockbusters of 2020.
The exhibition runs till March 25. 1 Manege Square. Metro Okhotny Ryad. dali2020.ru
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