DALI'S 'THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY' TO JOIN DALI EXHIBITION

ON 16.NOVEMBER SALVADOR DALI'S ICONIC SURREALIST PAINTING 'THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY' FROM THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK, WILL JOIN THE HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL EXHIBITION 'SALVADOR DALI: THE LATE WORK'. THE EXHIBITION BRINGS TOGETHER MANY WORKS FROM DALI'S LATER CAREER AS WELL AS SEVERAL WORKS OF ART NOT SEEN IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE THE 1950s. THE EXHIBITION WILL BE ON VIEW THROUGH 9.JANUARY.2011. 'THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY' REPRESENTS DALI IN WAYS FEW PAINTINGS HAVE FOR OTHER ARTISTS' SAID EXHIBITION CURATOR AND DALI SCHOLAR ELLIOTT KING. 'IT'S NO EXAGGERATION THAT THIS '10 X 14 INCHES OF DYNAMITE' IS THE IMAGE THAT MADE HIM A CELEBRITY, SETTING THE STAGE FOR ALL THE ART AND ANTICS THAT FOLLOWED.' PAINTED IN 1931, 'THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY' IS WIDELY RECOGNIZED AS ONE OF SALVADOR DALI'S MOST FAMOUS PAINTINGS. ACCORDING TO HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY 'THE SECRET LIFE OF SALVADOR DALI', THE PAINTING WAS DONE ONE EVENING AFTER DINNER WHILE HIS WIFE GALA WAS OUT. DALI WAS LOOKING AT A LANDSCAPE THAT HE HAD PAINTED, TRYING TO THINK OF SOMETHING MEMORABLE AND FANTASTIC TO INSERT INTO THE LANDSCAPE. NEARBY WAS A PIECE OF CAMEMBERT CHEESE THAT HAD BEGUN TO MELT. AS HE LOOKED AT THE MELTING CHEESE, HE GOT THE IDES TO PAINT A SOFT CLOCK. WHEN GALA CAME HOME DALI PUT HIS HANDS OVER HERS EYES, REVEALED THE PAINTING AND ASKED WHAT SHE THOUGHT. HER RESPONSE WAS THAT ONCE SOMEONE HAD SEEN IT, THEY WOULD NEVER FORGET IT, HENCE THE TITLE 'THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY.' 'SALVADOR DALI: THE LATE WORK', AT THE HIGH MUSEUM OF ATLANTA, IS THE FIRST EXHIBITION TO FOCUS SPECIFICALLY ON DALI'S ART AFTER 1940. THE EXHIBITION FEATURES 115 WORKS, INCLUDING 40 PAINTINGS AND A RELATED GROUP OF DRAWINGS, PRINTS AND OTHER DALI EPHEMERA. WHILE DALI IS BEST KNOW AS A LEADING MEMBER OF THE SURREALIST MOVEMENT OF THE LATE 1930s, 'SALVADOR DALI: THE LATE WORK' REASSESSES HIS CAREER FROM 1940 TO HIS DEATH IN 1989. DALI'S LATE WORK, WHICH MAKES UP MORE THAN HALF OF HIS TOTAL ARTISTIC OUTPUT, DREW INSPIRATION SIMULTANEOUSLY FROM THE OLD MASTERS AND TEH CONTEMPORARY WORLD, RESULTING IN WORKS THAT WERE MARKEDLY OUT OF STEP WITH THE PREVAILING STYLES OF THEIR DAY, BUT TODAY APPEAR STRIKINGLY CONTEMPORARY.