The Dali Universe in Venice until March 18th

Tourists that this next spring are staying in one of the many hotels in Venice as well as local citizens have the opportunity of visiting the Museo Diocesano di Sant’Apollonia, one of the most interesting exhibitions of the past months, one that shows some relatively unknown facets of the prolific Catalan artist Salvador Dali.

The exhibition showcases a collection of bronze glass and gold structures created by the painter in different moments of his life and that in some cases are the representation of some of the paints that have made him famous: Torero Alucinogeno, Persistence of Memory, Spatial Venus and Spatial Elephant are some of the sculptures that find in the context of this exhibition the perfect introduction to the public on holidays in Venice.

The exhibition includes designs and drawings of the period when the artist maintained a friendship that marked a deep change in his life. That with Federico Garcia Lorca was a relationship artistically enriching and toxic at some points, that left the writer with unfulfilled expectations. Together with his colleagues in the San Fernando academy, Dali got to discover Cubism and Dadaism, great classic works of art and the major themes of universal literature. All of these served as inspiration in these drawings, unique pieces who also represented his first steps as a book illustrator.

Some works inspired by the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, with which Dali established an almost father-son relationship are also on display. Snail and the Angel is the representation of duality and of what is hidden inside of every living thing. Like the egg, another element that fascinates Salvador Dali, the shell of the snail hides an inside that is vulnerable and must be protected, whose liberation can lead to a freedom to which we should aspire despite the risks, in order to become like the snail touched by the angel, a being that goes from immobility to being able to fly towards the gods.

Spatial Elephant is another one of the structures of the painter visitors can find in the museum, Dali’s representation of the temptation to which St. Anthony would not have been able to ignore, the power. It is represented as an elephant carrying an obelisk (symbol of the power of men over women and of numerous civilizations) and inspired by the same image of the impacting drawing painted in New York in which four stilt-legged elephants persecute St. Anthony (represented as a horse) along the desert with the symbols of temptations on their backs.

Sculptures of later periods are exposed in The Dali Universe, some of which date from the seventies and to the collection the surrealist painter created for his friend Isidoro Clot. Among the exhibited works, Spatial Venus, representation of the perishability of the flesh and the unlimited beauty of art that is on the contrary eternal.

The glass sculptures are the result from the collaboration with the Parisian gallery Daum Cristallerie on the 1960s. Glass was a material to which Dali kept coming back for the creation of art pieces to which he associated an almost holographic, virtual or oniric nature like Cyclops.

Salvador Dali was not always loved by everyone, as it will not be understood by all of those who visit de museum of Santa Apollonia before March 18th, but the truth is that this “total artist”, as named by his compatriots , leaves no one indifferent.

Written by Alba L with support from hotel reservation in Venice.
Visit Venice hotel accommodation or special offer Venice for further details.