Liege in Belgium will be welcoming an exciting exhibition dedicated to the Surrealist master Salvador Dalí. The show, entitled ‘From Salvador to Dalí’, runs from February 27th until August 2016.
From Salvador to Dalí, will take place in a dedicated exhibition space in the high speed TGV railway station Liege- Guillemins, the third largest station in Belgium. The station was designed by the Spanish modernist architect Santiago Calatrava and it was officially opened in 2009. The breathtaking architecture that encompasses a monumental arch in steel and glass, forms the entrance way to the two thousand square metre exhibition hall, which is situated on the first floor of the station complex. Used solely for art exhibitions, the voluminous space will showcase Dalí’s artworks in various mediums ; visitors walk through the space on a planned ‘ route’ ; the scenography will be as spectacular as the artworks themselves.
The surrealistic scenography for the exhibition is created by Europa 50, an installation and design company renowned for their high quality hyper realistic stage set productions.
The main theme of the exhibition as the title suggests, is the changing and evolving identities of Dalí; Dalí the child, Dalí the most celebrated and iconic artist of the twentieth century, and Dalí the eccentric media tycoon.
In the show is an original oil by Dalí - ‘L’Oeil Fleuri ( No.8) Décor Pour Le Ballet Tristan Fou’. Painted in 1942-1944, the oil was part of the extravagant décor for the performance of the ballet, based on the opera Tristan and Isolde, by Wagner.
Another succinctly surrealist artwork on loan is the ‘Buste de Femme Surrealist’. The original Buste created by Dalí, was exhibited in Paris in 1933, where it caused a sensation, not merely for its unusual appearance, but also because the bread and the corn were genuine; the bread was stolen and eaten by Picasso's dog. The Buste on display is from an edition of 8, created in 1977.
The towering six metre tall bronze sculpture’ Triumphant Elephant’ is to be placed outside the main entrance to the Station.
Inside the station close to the arrival and departure platforms, travelers will encounter a second bronze sculpture, ‘ Nobility of Time’, standing five meters high.
A few words on how the ‘From Salvador to Dalí’ will be structured…three sections will guide the visitor around the floor. This first section will focus on the artist’s birth, the places he frequented during his infancy, his family, the untimely death of his brother , the obsessions with Freudian time and psychoanalysis. His childhood traumas would pattern and color all of his artistic oeuvre.
The second section will concentrate upon the legacy of surrealism, the artistic development of the artist with a focus on his wife and muse Gala. Artistic techniques will be examined, for example the paranoiac – critical method, visual puns, juxtaposition of ordinary items placed in unusual settings; the very paradox of Surrealism. Dalí’s art will be revealed though many different mediums , painting, sculpture, fashion, theater, literature, photography, design, jeweler……
The final section depicts Dalí’s life in high society, meetings with famous personages, his inextricable links to the media, to money, fame, wealth, publicity and mass artistic and commercial production,
‘From Salvador to Dalí’…..closes with a link to contemporary French artists, who have been inspired by Dalí, such as the French street artists ‘Ouvruer’ and Jerome Mesnager.
