ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.- Experience the rare opportunity to see Salvador Dalís fragile works on paper, highlighting the artists creative process throughout the many phases of his career in Where Ideas Come From: Dalís Drawings, on view until Oct. 22 at
The Dalí Museum.
The exhibition chronicles the movement of the renowned Surrealists imagination through more than 100 pencil, pen, charcoal, watercolor and gouache works, many of which have been secured in the Museums vault for more than three decades and likely will not be displayed again for many years to come. Where Ideas Come From also marks the debut of two recent Surrealist acquisitions by The Dalí: Drawing for Bacchanale, Ludwig II of Bavaria (1939), a ballet-inspired portrait of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, and Untitled (Paranoiac Face) (c. 1935), a frontispiece dedicated to Paul Éluard from Dalís book Conquest of the Irrational.
It is a privilege to share these works from the Museums permanent collection and we welcome visitors to take a closer look at how Dalí brought his ideas to the world, which we hope offers a spark of creativity and inspiration for our guests, said Hank Hine, the Museums executive director.
Where Ideas Come From: Dalís Drawings is curated by Peter Tush, The Dalís curator of education. More than 60 of the works he curated for the exhibition were conserved in the past year through projects made possible by the Dalí Museum Keepers of the Collection, a group of donors who raise funds for conservation.
As the Museums collection nears 100 years of age, conservation is essential in advancing our mission to preserve Dalís legacy, said Tush. This is especially important for works on paper, which are very fragile and sensitive to light.
An exhibition catalog featuring all 166 works on paper in The Dalís permanent collection is available at the Museum Store and serves as a companion to The Dalí Museums oil paintings catalog published in 2021.
The Dalí Museum organizes Where Ideas Come From chronologically, presenting works that date from 1916 to 1974. Four sections Early Period; Surrealism; Nuclear Mysticism, Classicism and Religion; and Late Period feature studies for major oil paintings, portraits, experimental drawing techniques and commercial projects, including film.
The Early Period opens with student sketches, book illustrations, poster designs and self-portraits that demonstrate Dalís journey from Classicism to Cubism and eventually anti-art. The works also showcase his natural mastery of drawing and painting techniques. Dalí learned to draw at a young age and adopted the approach of Old Master painters in his work.
The Dalí anchors the Surrealism section with studies for such works as The Weaning of Furniture Nutrition (1934), illustrations for the poetic novel Le Chants de Maldoror (1940) and examples of Dalís experimentation with various Surrealist drawing techniques. This section also features Study for Disappearing Images (1939) which marks the beginnings of Old Age, Adolescence Infancy (The Three Ages), a significant 1940 double image oil painting in The Dalís collection.
Following World War II, Dalí coined himself a classicist and Nuclear Mystical painter. This section includes illustrations for works by the Italian poet, writer and philosopher Dante Alighieri and the ballet Tres Picos, familiar motifs of exploding watches, flies, disintegrating figures and religious-tinged images of dissolving angels. In Study for Soft Watch Exploding (1954), the sketch for Soft Watch at the Moment of the First Explosion, Dalí presents an object that has disintegrated into nearly unrecognizable particles. Transformations and studies for The Sacrament of the Last Supper (1955) and Christ of St. John of the Cross (1951) round out this section.
The final section, Late Period, includes diverse selections with small studies of The Hallucinogenic Toreador (1969-1970) and Galacidalacidesoxiribunucleicacid (Homage to Crick and Watson) (1962-1963), both in the Museums oil collection. The exhibition concludes with the 1974 Iceberg sketch, a self-portrait Dalí gifted to the founders of The Dalí Museum, A. Reynolds and Eleanor Morse.
After viewing a multitude of Dalís sketches, experiments and finished drawings, visitors to The Dalí will also have a chance to try their hand at drawing like the Surrealist icon. A series of instructional videos, sketchpads and pencils are available for visitors to create symbolic Dalinian imagery or other ideas inspired by the exhibit.
Additionally, the Museum is offering a multitude of programs inspired by drawing and creativity including free lectures, artistic workshops and tasting events.