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This document is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication.To cite include the following: The Dali Museum. Collection of The Dali Museum Library and Archives.

DALI AND THE SPANISH BAROQUE: INTRODUCTION

F rom his earliest paintings to the towering religious images in hismost well known pieces, and even in his appearance (inspired bythe portraits of Velazquez), Salvador Dali was deeply influenced bythe artwork that came from Spain during the seventeenth-century.

This period is known as the Baroque, and is considered the Golden Age ofSpanish painting.

Dali's interest in Baroque art began as a student in Madrid, when hefrequently visited the Spanish old master paintings in the Museo Nacionaldel Prado, and continued with Surrealism, which viewed the Baroque astimeless and recurring rather than as an historical period. In his middleand late years, Dali' painted in the dramatic manner of Spain's Baroquemasters, chosing as subject matter traditional religious figures and secularstill-life paintings- Through his references to the Baroque, Dali cast himselfas a master equal to the greatest Spanish painters in history.

Dali and the Spanish Baroque pairs Dali's Baroque-inspired artwork fromthe Museum's collection alongside works by Spanish masters El Greco,Diego Velazquez, Francisco de Zurbaran, Alonso Cano, Jusepe de Ribera,Bartolome Murillo, Juan Sanchez Cotan, Luis Egidio Melendez, JuanBautista Martinez del Mazo and Bias de Ledesma, on loan from renownedmuseums and collections from the U.S. and Spain.

GALLERY]

MUSEUM ENTRANCE

Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory (detail). I952-S4 Salvador Dali'Oil on carwas, Salvador Dali Museum. St. Petersburg, Florida

"C? The Bosfcei of Bread (detail), 1926, Salvador Dal-',Oil on panel, Salvador Dali Museum. St Petersburg, Florida

BOTTOM: Stilt Life with Cherries. Lupin, and iris.a. 1650. Bias de Ledesrr.3, Spanish, late 16tti early 17th C.Oil on canvas. High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia Purchasewith Great Painting Fund ii h-oncr of Reginald Poland. 57.11

Seventeenth-century Spanish still-lifepainters adopted an austere pictoriallanguage, as can be seen in Bias deLedesma's Still Life with Cherries, Lupin,and Iris. It is this tradition that Dali's earlystill-life paintings evoke. In Basket ofBread, the simple composition with thebasket, several slices of bread, and awhite cloth shining forth from mysteriousdarkness lends the painting an almostsacramental feeling. The bread symbol-izes the body of Christ and the whitecloth the ephemeral nature of worldlyexistence.

The soft watch in The Disintegration ofthe Persistence of Memory by Dali is amemento mori [reminder of death]. NatureMorte Vivante (Still Life Fast Moving)inverts the element of stasis (death) andinfuses the still life with literal movementby representing the objects as flying in aspiraling pattern.

TOP. Vanitas, ca. 1650. Madrid SchoolOil on Canvas Private Collection

BOTTOM: Myself at the Age of Ten When I Wasthe Grasshopper Child. 1933, Salvador Dali, Oil on panel,Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida

GALLERY 2Dalf's development throughout theSurrealist years (1929-1939) wasinformed by the ran/fas dimensionof still-life painting, as representedby the recurring symbols of thewatch and skull, reminders of anever present human mortality. Theword vanitas (vanity) derives fromEcclesiastes 1:2 "Vanity of vanities,all is vanity."

The Madrid School Von/fasrepresents the high point of thisgenre with a book, Spanish harp,elegant textiles and numerousdecorative objects set alongside askull that looks outwards at thespectator. The painting tells usthat all of man's achievements areillusory in the face of death.

In Dalf's Fantasies Diurnes, adistended skull is depicted inanamorphosis, a baroque pictorialdevice consisting of opticaldistortion, so made that whenviewed from a particular point itappears normal. Dalfs use ofanamorphosis, in distorting a skull,suggests the impossibility of repre-senting our own death. He createda series of paintings featuring skullsin which mortality is linked to self-portraiture, as in Myself at the Ageof Ten When I was the GrasshopperChild, where the young Dalf's headis transformed into a skull.

In one version of Saint Onophriusby Ribera, the emaciated hermitcontemplates the cross that heholds in one hand. He holds an ironnail, symbol of Christ's suffering, inthe other hand, while in the fore-ground a skull draped with a rosaryperforms the role of memento mori.

GALLERY 3Dali admired SpanishBaroque treatments of theCrucifixion, in which thefigures witnessing thepassion are removed, leavinga new austere treatment ofChrist, with the viewer indirect relation to the imme-diacy of Christ's death. Thenaturalism of the baroqueCrucifixion, according toDaii, leads to Catholicismand faith.

Dali sought this effectin his drawing, Christ inPerspective. Velazquez'sinfluence in particular lay inhis earliest memories of areproduction of his Crucifixionthat Dalf's parents kept intheir bedroom.

El Greco's Christ Carryingthe Cross emphasizes themovement of the Christwalking toward the momentof death and the passion ofhis suffering as symbolized inthe crown of thorns.

TOP: Christ in Perspective. 1950. Salvador DaliSanguine on paper. Salvador Dali Museum,St. Petersburg. Florida

BOTTOM: Christ Carrying the Cross ca B90-'555 :iGreco, Spanish (born Greece), '541-1614, Oil on canvas.Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami.Extended loan courtesy of The Oscar B. Cintas Foundation.L1988.06

Dali was especially fascinated by Saint Sebastian,patron saint of Cadaques. Dalf and his poet-friendFederico Garci'a Lorca identified themselves withSaint Sebastian - the Roman soldier who secretlyhelped Christians and whose punishment was to betied to a tree and have arrows shot into his body. Itis this moment in the story that was most popularwith baroque artists, as the subject provided apretext to paint a male nude.

Sanchez Cotan's treatment of Saint Sebastianfocuses on his humanity and restrained expressionof pain. The School of Zurbara'n Saint Sebastian(.cover image) sets the body at a greater distance andemphasizes the serpentine composition of the bodywhich is dramatically bathed in shadow.

GALLERY 4Dali's treatments of Saint Helena (said to havediscovered the true cross) and the Virgin Mary take Dali'swife Gala as their model. This practice began with workslike Saint Helena of Port Lligat and Tfie Ecumenical Council,where Gala appears as Saint Helena.

GALLERY 5 LOWER GALLERYIn The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, Gala appears asthe Virgin Mary. Like a penitent saint, Dali appears in the center of thepainting as a bowing monk clutching a crucifix.

The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception was among the most pop-ular subjects of the seventeenth-century. Murillo's many treatmentsof the subject, as in the version displayed here, provide an artisticprecedent for Dali's composition.

TOP RIGHT: Saint Helena of Port Lligat(detail), Salvador Dali. Oil on canvas 1956,Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida

ABOVE. Virgin of The ImmaculateConception, ca '670s, Bartolorn£ Murillo. Spanish,1618-1682. Oil on canvas, The Cleveland Museumof Art

RIGHT; The Discovery of America byChristopher Columbus, Salvador DalfOil or canvas 1958-59. Salvador Dali Museum,St. Petersburg. Florida

GALLERY 5 LOWER GALLERY

ABOVE; Philip IV Wearing Armor,with a Lion at his Feet, ca. 1652-1654,Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez andWorkshop, OS 0*1 canvas. Museo Nationaldel Prado, Madrid

RIGHT. The Ecumenical Council (detail,-I960, Salvador Dali, Oil on canvas, SalvadorDali Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida

Velazquez's Philip IV WearingArmor, with a Lion at his Feetprovided Dalf with an artisticmodel. In the 1950s, Daliself-consciously cultivatedthe style of mustacherepresented in Velazquez'snumerous portraits ofPhilip IV.

The Ecumenical Councilincludes a self-portrait ofDalf with a Velazquez-inspired mustache, holdinga palette and brush before ablank canvas on an easel.The canvas announces Dalfas the author of the painting,just as Velazquez depictshimself with palette andbrush in hand in Las Meninas(Prado, Madrid, projectedonto the wall in gallery 4).Dali's self-portrait in TheEcumenical Council, similarly,seeks recognition from us andstakes the artist's claim to beof the timeless stature ofVelazquez.

GALLERY 5LOWERGALLERYVelazquez was the courtpainter of Philip IV, where helived from the time of hisappointment in 1623 until hisdeath in 1660. Velazquez'ssubjects were the royal familyand members of the court,including its buffoons anddwarfs, as in the superbThe Jester Calabazas. Whilethese characters were partof the normal trappings ofEuropean court life.Velazquez made a largenumber of these works sug-gesting a sympathy for them.

TGS RIGH* Velazquez Painting the Infanta Margueritawith the Lights and Shadows of His Own Glory, !958,Salvador Dah' Oil on canvas, Salvador Dalf Museum, St Petersburg,Florida

ABOVE. Portrait of Doric Mariana of Austria, Queen ofSpain as a Young Woman, ca. 1652-53. Attributed to JuanBaufeta Martinez del Mazo. Spanish, 1612-1667 active in Madrid,Oil on canvas. Collection ol Hie John and Mable Ringing Museumof Art the State Art Museum of Florida, Florida State University

GALLERY 6Velazquez's famous court portrait Las Meninas,and his portrait of The Infanta Margarita - hererepresented by Velazquez's son-in-law JuanBautista Martinez del Mazo's Portrait of DonaMariana of Austria, Queen of Spain as a YoungWomen - provided Dalf with a model type offormal court painting, which he reworked in hishomage. Velazquez Painting the Infanta Margaritawith the Lights and Shadows of His Own Glory.

Dali represents Velazquez as a shadowyfigure, located at the center of the painting,shown in the act of executing in distortedperspective the very same Infanta Magaritathat is frontally represented in the transparentfigure. A gallery in the Museo Nacional delPrado seen in the backgound is depicted as arepository of eternal and transcendentalpictorial values.

BAROQUE PROGRAMMINGFor more information, including pricing, on these and all our programs please visit; satvadordalimuseijm.org

Friday, Feb 210:30 am Gallery TourCo-Curators Dr. Stratton-Pruitt and

Dr. William Jeffett will give a walk-through of the exhibition.

Wednesday, Feb 7

9:45-10:30 amCoffee with a CuratorWilliam Jeffett: "An Introduction toDa If & the Spanish Baroque"

Thursday, Feb 8

6:00 pmContemporary Baroque Film SeriesPeter Greenaway's TheDraughtsman's Contract

Thursday, Feb 15

6:00 prnContemporary Baroque Film SeriesPeter Greenaway's The Belly of anArchitect

Sunday, Feb 25

3:00 pmBaroque Concert SeriesBaroque concert by FloriMezzoEnsemble, the Florida Musicians

Educational Society Ensemble

Thursday, March 16:00 pmContemporary Baroque Film SeriesDerek Jarman's Caravaggio

Wednesday, March 7

9:45-10:30 amCoffee with a CuratorPeter Tush: "Baroquely Dali: A 25thAnniversary Look at Extravagance

in Dalfs Art"

Thursday March 156:00 pmContemporary Baroque Film SeriesPeter Greenaway's Prospero's Books

Wednesday, April 4

9:45-10:30 amCoffee with a CuratorMonica Guerrero: "Ideals of the

Spanish Baroque"

Thursday, April 56:00 pmContemporary Baroque Film SeriesFederico Fellini's Temptation of Dr.

Antonio + Toby Dammit

Thursday, April TBA6:30 pmBaroque LectureUSF Art History Professor BradNichols

Sunday, April 293:00 prnBaroque Concert Series:Modern arrangements of Scarlatti

piano sonatas by The Dali Consort

Wednesdsay, May 29:45-10:30 am

Coffee with a CuratorEfen Woods: "Monarchy or

Madness: Dali, Velazquez and theBaroque"

Thursday, May 3

6:00 pmContemporary Baroque Film SeriesLuis Bunuel's Exterminating Angel

Thursday, May 18

6:00 pmContemporary Baroque Film SeriesLuis Bunuel's Viridiana

Sunday June 3

3:00 pmBaroque Concert Series:Baroque Concert featuring JimConnors and friends.

SALVADOR DALI MUSEUM25th Anniversary

The Dali Museum opened in St. Petersburg on

March 7, 2006. However, the history of the

collection began in Cleveland, Ohio in 1943.

Industrialist A. Reynolds and Eleanor Reese

Morse began their marriage and their (ifelong

adventure with Daif and his wife, Gala, as friends

and collectors, with the purchase of their first

painting Daddy Longlegs of the Evening-Hope!

They spent the following 40 years seeking out

the artist's work, assembling the largest private

collection of Dali's art in the world, eventually

opening a private museum in Cleveland in 1971.

Ten years later, they began a nationwide search

for a new, permanent home for their collection.

After seeing an article in the Wall Street Journal

titled "U.S. Art World Dillydallies over Dali,"

St. Petersburg attorney James Martin contacted

the Morses, and local leaders persuaded the

couple to choose St. Petersburg.

The Museum's collection, which continues to

grow through new aquisitions, is rivaled only by

the Teatro Museo Dali in Spain. The Museum

regularly features special exhibitions like Dali and

the Spanish Baroque,

For information on Daiiand the Spanish Baroqueprogramming please visit

www.salvadordalimuseum.org

This guide was funded in part by the Pinellas County Commissionthrough the Pinellas County Cultural Affairs Department's CulturalDevelopment Grant Program."

COVER IMAGE. Saint Sebastian ca. 1650. Workshop rf Francisco de

Zurbara'n. Oil on canvas. 42-1/2 X 20-3/4 inches. Kresge Art Museum,

Michigan State University, Grfl of Marion Soria in memory of Martin Soria,

Salvador Dali'Museum

1000 Third Street South

St. Petersburg, Florida 33701727-823-37671-800-442-3254

HOURS:Mon - WedThursFriSitS .n

9:30 am - 5:30 pm9:30 am - 8 pm9:30 am - 6:30 pm9:30 am - 5:30 pm12 pm - 5:30 pm

OUR SPONSORS

^ Progress Energy

2006-2007 SEASON SPONSORThe Salvador Dali' Museum's entire2006-2007 exhibilion series is sponsoredby Progress Energy.

The museum is sponsored in part by theCity of St. Petersburg, the Pinellas CountyCultural Affairs Department, the StPetersburg/Clearwater Convention andVisitors Bureau, the State of Florida.Department of Stale, Division of Culturalaffairs and the Florida Arts Council.

Additional support for Dali and the

Spanish Baroque provided by:

&t Petersburg (Times

i Northern Trust

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