One of the most spectacular art exhibitions ever held in London of works by world-renowned Spanish artist Salvador Dali (1904-1989), including rare pieces not previously exhibited in the UK, has opened this week at the Sobha Global Studio at 92 Park Lane in Mayfair.
Curated by Victoria Golembiovskaya of House of the Nobleman, in association with Alon Zakaim of Alon Zakaim Fine Art, the multi-million-pound art exhibition is sponsored by luxury multinational developer Sobha Realty, with the exhibition open daily to the general public, VIP guests and art buyers/dealers up until Wednesday 25th September 2019.
Some 80 Dali artworks including bronze sculptures, rare drawings, famous lithographs and gouaches are being exhibited in Sobha’s 4,800 sqft exhibition space which has a dramatic central atrium with a 6.2 metre (20ft) high ceiling.
Sourced and shipped to Park Lane from private collections and galleries in Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon and London the exhibition has taken six months of planning and curation, with the installation giving visitors a unique insight into Dali’s lifelong interest in creating artworks based on animals, mythological creatures and clocks.
One of the centrepieces of the Park Lane exhibition is the stunning Clot Collection, commissioned by Catalan art lover Isidro Clot, which consists of a collection of 44 Dali bronzes, created between 1969-79 from original wax models, which Dali produced by the swimming pool of his house at Port Lligat in Spain.
There are several themes to the sculptures including Greek Antiquity, with pieces depicting Aphrodite, Poseidon and Apollo riding his chariot; there are also religious-icon bronzes depicting Christ, Saint Sebastian and the Madonna; and also Dali’s muse and lover Gala, who is represented in many guises throughout the Clot Collection. The bronze of Perseus was inspired by Cellini’s masterpiece, which Dali saw in Florence whilst The Pieta bronze is based on Michelangelo’s version at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. The collection is the biggest single set of Dali bronzes ever exhibited in London.
Later editions of a selection of the bronzes were produced in monumental sizes – Homage to Marcel Duchamp is displayed in Toramaru Park in Japan; a huge version of Muse of Dance is displayed outside the Palacio Euskalduna de la Musica y de Congresos in Bilbao whilst large scale versions of Man on a Dolphin, Poseidon, Cosmic Elephant, Saint Sebastian and Emperor Trajan on Horseback can be seen in the Museo Real Circulo Artistico in Barcelona and on the seaside promenade Paseo del Mar in Marbella.
