Salvador Dali Sculpture Soumaya Museum Mexico City

Spanish artist Salvador Dali's sculpture, 'The Triumphant Angel' resides on the top floor of the Soumaya Museum's new home in Mexico City,

 

Persistence of Memory Salvador Dali Gala Surrealism Spain

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali. La persistencia de la memoria. The painting has been in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City since 1934. It is very widely recognized, and is frequently referenced in popular culture.

The well-known surrealist piece introduced the image of the soft melting pocket watch. It epitomizes Dalí's theory of "softness" and "hardness", which was central to his thinking at the time. As Dawn Ades wrote, "The soft watches are an unconscious symbol of the relativity of space and time, a Surrealist meditation on the collapse of our notions of a fixed cosmic order"[1]. This interpretation suggests that Dalí was incorporating an understanding of the world introduced by Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. When asked by Ilya Prigogine whether this was in fact the case, Dali replied that the soft watches were not inspired by the theory of relativity, but by the surrealist perception of a camembert cheese melting in the sun.[2]

Although fundamentally part of Dalí's Freudian phase, the imagery precedes his transition to his scientific phase by fourteen years, which occurred after an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

It is possible to recognize a human figure in the middle of the composition, in the strange "monster" that Dalí used in several period pieces to represent himself – the abstract form becoming something of a self portrait, reappearing frequently in his work. The orange clock at the bottom left of the painting is covered in ants. Dalí often used ants in his paintings as a symbol for death, as well as a symbol of female genitalia.

The figure in the middle of the picture is symbolized as a "fading" creature, as which, when one often dreams, he or she cannot pin-point the exact form and composition of a creature. One can also see that the creature has one closed eye with several eyelashes; this also suggests that the creature is in a dream state. The iconography of this famous painting is that of a dream that Dalí had experienced. The clocks symbolize the passing of time that one experiences in a dream state.

While Salvador Dali did create quite a few limited edition graphics, etchings, engravings, lithographs etc., that were hand signed in pencil for the most part (some signed in ink) he did not agree to create a limited edition version of the Persistence of Memory until 1974. The hand signed print is an interpretation of Dali's earlier work. The original painting is a small 9" x 12", but the limited edition graphic is a large 29 1/2 x 30 1/2 inch work on heavy archival paper.

Notice the added clock in the interpretation.

Also (not shown here) there is a small image in the lower border

that shows the original paitning, and there are also engraved characters in the

lower border as well. The pencil signature and pencil edition numbers are just below

the image.

The art market is changing at a fast past these days, as Christies and Sothby's are reporting record auction sales. Limited edition works that sold for affordable prices only 15 or 20 years ago, are selling at record high prices today.

It is still possible to obtain one of these rare works by Dali, but as it has happened with all Masters in the past, the availability of any original or signed limited edition works changes at a much faster pace as time marches on.

If you have any questions about this work, fee free to call me at: 888-888-DALI ask for Dan.

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Salvador Dali working in his studio in the 1960's creating lithographs

Notice the bullfight print in the background. This is Dali in 1965 hand working on the Bullfight series.

Carlos Slim Salvador Dali Art Collection

Mexican Telecom Tycoon Carlos Slim unveiled his art collection at the openinig of his new museum.
The collection includes works by a number of masters, including Salvador Dali.

This marks another occassion where Dali works are being displayed in a musuem.

Some other examples of museums where you can view works by Dali:

1. Museum of Modern Art NY  MOMA
2. Guggenheim Museum NY
3. The Art Institute of Chicago  IL
4. Metropolitan Museum of Art NY
5. Tate Gallery London England UK
6. Musee National d' Art Moderne  Paris France
7. Reina Sofia Museum Madrid Spain
8. Museum of Modern Art San Francisco
9. Hermitage Museum Russia
10. Louvre Museum Paris France
11. Museum of Fine Arts Boston MA
12. Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art PA
13. Salvador Dali Museum Figueras Spain
14 Dali Museum St. Petersburg Florida

There are more, but this gives you an idea as to the strenght of works by Dali.

Sotheby's announces record sales numbers, includes Dali sales in results

Sotheby's announces largest sales growth in auction history!

Part of the success is attributed to works by Salvador Dali.

From Sothbey's:

Dali's masterpiece, Portrait de Paul Eluard was pursued by no fewer than nine prospective buyers and soared above the pre-sale estimate to sell for $21.7 million. It tripled the record established for Dali set earlier in the week and also became a new record price for any Surrealist work of art sold at auction.

Santiago El Grande Salvador Dali painting High Museum

Three paintings by legendary surrealist Salvador Dali - including the epic 1957 piece Santiago El Grande, featuring a rearing white horse with St. James of Compostela, the patron saint of Spain, on its back - returned to Fredericton last week from a six-month loan to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Ga.