Salvador Dalí - Monumental Sculpture

Salvador DalĂ­ Monumental Sculpture

Monumental Sculptures Introduction to the Artworks The Salvador Dalí monumental sculpture collection has been exhibited in prestigious outdoor locations continuously since the 1980 s. Placed directly outside art galleries, or in city piazzas, from New York to Beijing, these towering monumental bronzes attract clientele and work as pivotal public relations pieces, attracting media attention, generating press and publicity. Forming part of a collection of Dali sculpture edited by IAR Art Resources, the sculptures stand as testimony to Dalí’s surrealist genius in colossal format.

City mayors, academic institutions, culture governmental departments, senators, ambassadors, Ministers of Culture, amongst others, numerous Spanish cultural attaches have participated in exhibitions of this collection of Dali monumental sculpture.

Salvador Dali turned to sculpture as he felt it was the most complete way to express his inspired and otherworldly Surrealist visions. Constrained by the limitations of a flat canvas, Dalí’s creativity peaked when given the freedom of three-dimensional form. The following pages catalogue the worlds largest collection of Salvador Dalí monumental artworks.

This catalogue contains sculptural representations of the Catalan genius’ key iconographic images.

Furthermore the examples displayed in this catalogue, are arguably the most emphatic and prominent artistic manifestations in the world of Surrealism. Standing as high as seven metres tall, in some cases, these prominent sculptures create an awe inspiring and striking exhibit; captivating the viewers attention and drawing him / her into the enchanted and Surrealist world of Salvador Dalí.

Woman Aflame standing nearly four metres tall, combines important Dalinian motifs: flames and fire, crutches and the female figure intersected with drawers. The towering Space Elephant is another iconic form within the oeuvre of Salvador Dalí and Surrealist art. The spider-legged elephant image, made famous in Dalí’s 1946 oil on canvas painting The Temptation of St. Anthony, stands over seven metres high.

Since 1989, monumental sculptures from this collection have been displayed in the most important cities of the world; Rome, London, Beijing, Singapore, Sydney, Hong Kong and virtually every major city in Europe. Prestigious locations include: London, Southbank; Place Vendome, Paris; the Opera House in Frankfurt, Germany; the Museum of Santa Croce, Florence; Monte Carlo, Monaco; the MGM Grand in Macau, and the Shanghai Art Museum, China. Incredible locations have hosted these monumental artworks which communicate Dalí’s character, his obsessions, his fears and passions.

The monumental sculpture collection is a fitting celebration honouring the creations of an artist who still continues to inspire and captivate the public all over the world.

Alice In Wonderland Like Alice in Wonderland, Dalí travelled a long and arduous road through the land of dreams, by means of his artistic expression. The artist was clearly drawn to both the incredible story-line and the extravagant characters in this intoxicating fairytale.

As recreated by Dalí, Alice's hands and hair have blossomed into roses, and her jump rope has become a twisted cord. She encounters the confusion of the surreal looking-glass world with the naiveté and unanswerable logic of the eternal child, finally emerging into reality unharmed, and also unchanged.

Title: Alice in Wonderland Material: Bronze Technique: Lost wax process Year: Conceived in 1977, first cast in 1984, monumental edition cast at a later date Height: 480 cm Edition: 8 plus 4 EA

Dance Of Time II The melted watch is the most well-known and beloved of DalĂ­'s iconoclastic images the artist chose to portray this image consistently throughout his lifetime, beginning in 1932. The ever-present fluidity of time is represented in this sculpture as time not only moving, but dancing in rhythm to the beat of the universe. Universal time knows no limits; it must be remembered that time, as we understand it, is a human notion. Instead, DalĂ­nian time is perpetual and 'dances on' stopping for no man, history or even the cosmos.

Title: Dance of Time II Material: Bronze Technique: Lost wax process Year: Conceived in 1979, first cast in 1984, monumental edition cast at a later date Height: 302 cm Edition: 8 plus 4 EA, 2 EF

Homage To Terpsichore In the creation of his version of the muse of music, Terpsichore, DalĂ­ uses a reflected image, setting a soft, carnal muse against a hardened, statuesque one. The lack of definition in both faces clearly underlines the purely symbolic significance of these figures. The smooth and classical dancer is representative of inner harmony and the unconscious, while the angular, cubist figure from which we see branches sprouting, represents the ever-growing and chaotic rhythm of modern life. Both figures dance side by side within each of us, one representing grace and the subconscious; the other representing the sensuality of life.

Title: Material: Technique: Year: Height: Edition:

Homage to Terpsichore Bronze Lost wax process Conceived in 1977, first cast in 1984, monumental edition cast at a later date 375 cm 8 plus 4 EA

Horse Saddled With Time In La Vie Secrete, Dalí 's autobiography published in 1942, the artist stated "The mechanical object was to become my worst enemy, and as for watches, they would have to be soft, or not be at all!". Dalí believed that humans cannot rely on the non-dreaming or "real" world in order to understand absolute truth.

This theme is evident in his sculpture Horse Saddled with Time. The horse, one of the most famous Dalínian images, is portrayed as the representation of life weighed down and harnessed by time, a tangible symbol of the world of the waking and the world of repression.

Dalí has embodied society's repressive restrictive nature, showing that the unconscious, the true psyche of the individual, is constantly trying to reveal and free itself.

Title: Horse Saddled with Time Material: Bronze Technique: Lost wax process Year: Conceived and first cast in 1980, monumental edition cast at a later date Height: 300 cm Edition: 8 plus 4 EA

Nobility Of Time DalĂ­ 's melted and crowned watch is both draped against and supported by the remains of a tree - the trunk sprouts new life and its roots entwine a stone.

The terminology, "the crown of a watch" is assumed to mean a mechanical device that allows us to set the hands and wind the timepiece. Time, however, according to a DalĂ­nian watch, has no internal power or motion. Given this watch's lack of movement, the crown is interpreted as a royal crown adorning the watch, clearly identifying time's mastery over human beings, rather than being an object of utility. His majesty is attended by two reoccurring, mystic DalĂ­nian symbols: a pensive angel and a nude female figure elegantly draping herself in a long piece of cloth.

Title: Nobility of Time Material: Bronze Technique: Lost wax process Year: Conceived in 1977, first cast in 1984, monumental edition cast at a later date Height: 490 cm Edition: 8 plus 4 EA

Persistence Of Memory DalĂ­ has isolated the central image of his best-known painting and given this sculpture the same title. It is a simple figure consisting of a limp watch draped over the branch of a tree, the classic symbol of life. In his words, "Materialization of the flexibility of time and the indivisibility of time and space. Time is not rigid. It is one with space - fluid". DalĂ­ examines the human perception of time: the speed of time, while precise in scientific use, is widely variable in human perception.

When we are involved in pleasant activities or in work that absorbs all our attention, 'time flies', but when we are mired in boredom or discomfort, it drags. The limp watch no longer 'keeps' time; it does not measure its passage. Thus, the speed of time depends on the individual.

Title: Persistence of Memory Material: Bronze Technique: Lost wax process Year: Conceived and first cast in 1980, monumental edition cast at a later date Height: 500 cm Edition: 8 plus 4 EA

Profile of Time This sculpture echoes DalĂ­ 's famous 1931 painting "The Persistence of Memory", in which the artist's famous soft and distorted watch appeared for the first time. As the watch melts over the tree, it transforms into a human profile, underlining the interminable relationship between human beings and time. The unexpected softness of the watch also represents the psychological aspect whereby time, whilst considered to be a precise and fixed concept, can in fact vary significantly in human perception.

The flow of time and its unusually irrational nature developed into an obsession for DalĂ­; the image and symbolism of the melted watch thus reoccurred in many of his works.

Title: Profile of Time Material: Bronze Technique: Lost wax process Year: Conceived in 1977, first cast in 1984, monumental edition cast at a later date Height: 380 cm Edition: 8 plus 4 EA

Saint George And The Dragon DalĂ­ again transforms a traditional image by adding new and unexpected symbolic connotations. The classic interpretation of "St George and the Dragon" is commonly seen as the saint's battle against heresy and evil, St George being the guardian angel of Aragon and a celebrated saint of chivalry throughout medieval Europe.

In this sculpture, we can see the artist himself, represented by St. George, slaying the dragon, while his inspirational muse, Surrealist Art, exalts in the background. Metamorphic touches find their way into this sculpture too: the dragon's wings turn into flames, and the monster's tongue is a crutch, a favourite DalĂ­nian image.

Title: Saint George And The Dragon Material: Bronze Technique: Lost wax process

Year: Height: Edition:

Conceived in 1977, first cast in 1984, monumental edition cast at a later date 300 cm 8 plus 4 EA

Space Elephant In 1946, a film studio commissioned eleven artists to produce a painting based on "The Temptations of St. Anthony". For his contribution, Dalí created the image of an elephant in the Egyptian desert carrying an obelisk, a symbol of power and domination: temptations, according to Dalí, to which St. Anthony would not have been immune. Dalí painted these earthly temptations as a procession led by a rearing horse, a phallic symbol of the mastery of one person over another. Four elephants stand on almost invisible spider legs of desire, and offer art, beauty, power, erotic pleasures, and knowledge. In the creation of this sculpture, based on the elephants in the painting, Dalí chose to focus on the temptation of power.

Title: Space Elephant Material: Bronze Technique: Lost wax process Year: Conceived and first cast in 1980, monumental edition cast at a later date Height: 724 cm Edition: 8 plus 4 EA

Surrealist Piano The Surrealist Piano is one of DalĂ­'s major iconoclastic symbols, first appearing in his oeuvre in 1954. The artist has chosen to transform the banal wooden legs of a piano, replacing them with dancing female legs, and bringing the inanimate piano to life. In this transformation he creates an animate, joyous instrument which can dance as well as play. DalĂ­ often blurred the lines between the real and surreal worlds, taking an inert and lifeless object, and, with a wave of his magic surrealist wand, created an entirely new fantasmagorical happening.

Title: Surrealist Piano Material: Bronze Technique: Lost wax process Year: Conceived in 1954, first cast in 1984, monumental edition cast at a later date Height: 488 cm Edition: 8 plus 4 EA, 2 EF

Space Venus Venus, the goddess of beauty and the core representational form in this classical marble statue, is depicted by a female torso as well as four additional DalĂ­nian elements: a soft watch, an egg, two ants and the separation of the body into two parts. The watch is draped over the neck, signifying that beauty of the flesh is temporary and will vanish, as opposed to the beauty of art, which is timeless and eternal. The ants are reminders of human mortality and impermanence. The split torso represents the fragility of beauty and the future. The egg, like the ant, is a favourite DalĂ­nian symbol, given the duality of its hard exterior and soft interior, and represents both hope and life.

Title: Space Venus Material: Bronze Technique: Lost wax process Year: Conceived in 1977, first cast in 1984, monumental edition cast at a later date Height: 350 cm Edition: 8 plus 4 EA

Triumphant Elephant The elephant, DalĂ­'s iconoclastic symbol of the future and one of his favourite images, is often depicted atop mosquito-like legs, emphasising the contrast between robustness and fragility, much like the contrast the artist seeks to make evident in this sculpture, between the past and modernity. The animal's jewelled saddle symbolises wealth, and the dawn of a new era is announced by a flying angel, trumpeting success and prosperity. DalĂ­'s elephant exemplifies every individual's hope for abundance and good fortune in the future.

Title: Triumphant Elephant Material: Bronze Technique: Lost wax process Year: Conceived in 1975, first cast in 1984, monumental edition cast at a later date Height: 574 cm Edition: 8 plus 4 EA, 2 EF

Unicorn The unicorn is a mythical creature prominent in legends as an intricate symbol of purity. The horn of a unicorn is believed capable of neutralising any poison. This animal also has connotations of chastity and virginity, both male and female, and was adopted as the sign or ideal representation of the "perfect" knight. In some legends it was also a symbol of virility. DalĂ­ chose to portray the unicorn as a phallic figure whose horn penetrates a stone wall through a heart-shaped opening, from which a drop of blood is slowly falling.

The nude, reposing female stretched out in the foreground at the hooves of the animal underlines the sensual nature of this sculpture.

Title: Material: Technique: Year:

Height: Edition:

Unicorn Bronze Lost wax process Conceived in 1977, first cast in 1984, monumental edition cast at a later date 366 cm 8 plus 4 EA

Woman Aflame This woman, almost entirely composed of flames, combines two of Dalí 's favourite obsessions: fire, and a female figure interspersed with drawers. Dalí found flames fascinating because they seem to have a life of their own, exerting an almost hypnotic influence on the observer. The flames also represent the erotic impulses of the female figure. Dalí once explained this figure as a Freudian outgrowth of the natural curiosity of children to investigate enclosed spaces, both in order to satisfy the desire to know what these spaces contain, and to exorcise the fear that what is unknown may be harmful. Freud explained that drawers are a representation of the concealed sexuality of women. Dalí portrays many of the drawers to be slightly ajar, indicating that their secrets are known and no longer to be feared. Two crutches rise from the figure, symbolising a blend of authority, stability and sexual power.

Title: Woman Aflame Material: Bronze Technique: Lost wax process Year: Conceived and first cast in 1980, monumental edition cast at a later date Height: 360 cm Edition: 8 plus 4 EA

Hay Hill Gallery 35 Baker Street, London W1U 8EN T: +44 (0) 20 7486 6006, +44 (0) 20 7935 5315 www.hayhillgallery.com E: info@hayhillgallery.com F: +44 (0) 70 5362 1735