“I am delirious therefore I am” – Dali exhibition opens in Moscow

A unique exhibition of the works of Salvador Dali has opened at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. The exhibition includes original drawings by the surrealist artist, rather than copies. Photo: Untitled. After the Head of “Giuliano di Medici” by Michelangelo, 1981-1982.

The exhibition of the master of surrealism, which derives its name from his declaration, “I am delirious therefore I am,” was designed by theater set designer Boris Messerer, who works as the museum’s staff exhibitions designer.

Boris Messerer drew inspiration for the exhibit from Dali's home, now a museum, in Figueres – a space that is completely infused with the spirit of the artist. Dali was absorbed with mystification his entire life, and wanted to live in an atmosphere that reflected this. Photo, in the background: Left – Siphon and Small Bottle of Rum, 1924; right – Still Life, 1923.

The collection that arrived in Moscow from the surrealist’s house museum features 25 paintings and 90 drawings, including lithographs for an edition of Don Quixote. Photo: A drawing for the first part of The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, 1945.

Alongside unusual architectural features, such as a giant glass dome over an old stage, the museum’s walls and roof are decorated with giant chicken eggs. The egg was a symbol of renaissance for Dali.

Large replicas of black and white fantasy costumes hover above the staircase. Christian Dior, a friend of Salvador Dali, designed the costumes for a 1951 masquerade ball in Venice, based on the surrealist’s sketches.

“It is a well-known fact that the artist did not oppose, and even encouraged making copies of his works. But our exhibition presents only his original works,” the exhibition coordinator said. Photo: Salvador and Gala Dali looking out from a ticket office at the Dream of Venus pavilion during the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

Salvador Dali once said that he is grateful to fate for two things: for being Spanish, and for being Salvador Dali. Photo: Salvador Dali showing reproductions of his works, February 24, 1946.

The exhibition is arranged chronologically, a fail-safe approach, especially for visitors who are being acquainted with the surrealist’s works for the first time. Photo: Napoleon’s Nose Transformed into a Pregnant Woman Strolling Her Shadow with Melancholic amongst Original Ruins, 1945.

Many of the paintings belong to the museum’s permanent exposition, which makes them especially valuable. Photo: Dawn, Noon, Sunset, and Twilight, 1979.

A particular theme of the exhibition is love. Several paintings are dedicated to Gala Dali, born Yelena Diakonova, the most important woman in the surrealist’s life. Photo: Three Apparitions of the Visage of Gala, 1945.

The artist once described his artistic process, saying that he saw something, it sank deeply into his soul, and then spilled out through his brush and onto the canvas. Love, he said, is exactly the same. Photo: Portrait of Gala with Two Lamb Chops Balanced on Her Shoulder, around 1934.

The exhibition at the Pushkin Museum features both early works of Dali, such as Grandmother Ana Sewing and Cadaques, Seen From Behind, and later paintings that he made in a more traditional manner. Photo: Grandmother Ana Sewing (left), 1920, and Cadaques, Seen From Behind, 1921. Both paintings are connected with the home where he spent summer vacations as a child.

According to Joan Manuel Sevillano, the executive manager of the The Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation, the 1935 painting Singularities represents the quintessence of Dali’s artistic method.

The exhibition will remain open until November 13. Photo: A copy of the famous Mae West's Lips Sofa, which resembles the shape of the lips of the 1930s movie star.