I have never been a great fan of Salvador Dalí; there's something about the line or colour in his paintings that makes me feel uneasy. But there has been so much hype and publicity around the Museo Reina Sofía's enormous exhibition of his life's work, Dalí: Todas las sugestiones poéticas y todas las posibilidades plásticas (Dalí: All of the poetic suggestions and all of the plastic possibilities).
The exhibition, held jointly with the Centre Pompidou in Paris, showcases over two hundred paintings, sculptures, films and other exhibits, in chronological groups showing the development of his work throughout his life.
Starting with his more "mainstream" paintings as a young man, the idea behind the exhibition is to show Dalí as being about much more than the surrealism for which he is best known.
 |
| Portrait de Joella, 1933-1934, with the collaboration of Man Ray |
His paintings from the Civil War period interested me the most, and I was surprised that they're not more well known. The monstrous human body strangling itself in a frenzy in Construcción blanda con judías hervidas (premonición de la guerra civil) (Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of the Civil War), 1936) was painted just a few months before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, and gives it a visual form as shocking as Guernica.
 |
| Teléfono afrodisiaco, 1938 |
I also liked the final few rooms of the exhibition, showing his later works and explaining his move to the US during the Second World War. I hadn't realised that Dalí was such a master of self promotion, leaping upon the rise of TV advertising and mass media and appearing in adverts for everything from Alka-Seltzer to chocolate.
The exhibition also made interesting use of film. Apart from his bizarre TV adverts, the exhibition screened Un Chien Andalou, his famous 1929 collaboration with Luis Buñuel, and his fascinating collaborations with Hitchcock and Disney. Yes, you've read that correctly - even Disney. You can watch it here.
The exhibition didn't convert me to a Dalí fan completely, but it's definitely worth braving the crowds for.
Until 2 September 2013
