Dali's Unconventional Universe

The imagery of Salvador Dali’s surrealistic visions captivates and intrigues the viewer, causing them to reexamine the well-known, defy the convention of logic, and see beyond the norm. This exhibition includes photography, done in collaboration with friend and photographer Philippe Halsman, which depicts Dali’s unconventional view of his world. The prints in this collection are from Dali’s Le Tricorne, Divine Comedy and Alice in Wonderland suites, showing Dali's interpretations of Dante's Divine Comedy and Lewis Carroll’s classic tale Alice's Adventures in Wonderland respectively.

Salvador Dali has earned an international reputation as a painter, etcher, writer, jeweler, furniture designer and innovative virtuoso. His messages are as varied as his media, a fact that led Picasso to draw the apt analogy between Dali's brain and an outboard motor that is constantly running. Best known for his paintings of irrational subjects done in a meticulously realistic style, Dali took great delight in the controversy that his work incites. He insisted that the only difference between himself and other Surrealists was that he was a Surrealist, while the others, due partly to timidity, were afraid to truly explore and master the irrational.

Many critics and much of the public have dismissed Dali as a prankster, misreading his capriciousness and failing to appreciate the fact that his juxtapositions are intended to move his viewers beyond surface realities to a plane accessible only through suspension of conventional thought and logical reasoning. According to Halsman, Dali's "surrealistic creativity finds only partial outlet in his art. Dali himself is the most surrealistic of his creations."