dali

A Look Inside The World's Richest Man's New Museum

Filed under: Art, Wealth

Last fall we saw video renderings of the plans for the new Soumaya museum planned by Mexico's richest man Carlos Slim. The new branch of the museum named for his late wife is the the second one that he has created. The six-story museum was designed by his son-in-law Fernando Romero. The modern and shiny aluminum structure is composed of over 16,000 tiles. The building has five stories of exhibition space totaling 183,000 square feet with six halls. The AP shot some photos as the museum prepared for its inauguration on March 1 by Mexico's President Felipe Calderon.

Tags: auguste rodin, carlos slim, dali, mexico city, mexico city museum, rodin, salvador dali, soumaya museum

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Le Meurice: Can a Luxury Paris Hotel Be Surreal?

by Alison Wellner (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Le Meurice: Can a Luxury Paris Hotel Be Surreal?

Of all the art movements to use as inspiration in hotel décor, I'm not sure surrealism would be my first choice. (If I woke up in the morning to the sight of a melting alarm clock, I think I'd summon an ambulance.) So although I'd long known that the artist Salvador Dalí had been a design inspiration during Philippe Starck's renovation of Le Meurice, Paris' most venerable palace hotel, the whole proposition sounded somewhat dubious.

After all, surrealism is about thought unhampered by reason. And I like a luxury hotel that is, at the least, reasonable in its décor if not in price.

What's more, "reasonable" would not be the first adjective associated with Dalí, as a guest of Le Meurice. In his month-long annual stays, he requested a herd of sheep and then proceeded to shoot them with his pistol -- blank bullets, otherwise what a mess. He also requested a horse for reasons unrecorded in hotel history. And freshly caught flies, from the handily placed Tuileries Garden across the street.

Tags: Dali, Luxury Hotels, Paris, Paris Hotels, Paris Travel, Phillipe Starck

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Salvador Dali Museum Opening in St. Petersburg, Florida, Her Royal Highness Infanta Cristina of Spain to Attend

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Events, Art

The Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida

On the auspicious date of January 11, 2011 (1/11/11) at 11:11 AM, the new Salvador Dalí Museum will open in St. Petersburg, Florida, with a grand opening party to be attended by Her Royal Highness Infanta Cristina of Spain as guest of honor.

St. Petersburg, Florida may seem like an unlikely home for Dali, but the Dali Museum actually originated there in 1982 after St. Petersburg offered financial support to collector and industrialist A Reynolds Morse and his wife Eleanor Reese to house their already substantial collection. Today, the museum contains more Dali masterworks than any other museum in the world and has the largest collection outside of Spain. The annual attendance is over 200,000 people per year, bringing an economic impact of an estimated $50 million to St. Petersburg.

The opening of the new, visually stunning $36 million building will double the current space of the Dali Museum to 66,450 square feet. Construction began in December 2008, and the attractive, innovative structure can reportedly withstand a category five hurricane. The roof is 12-inch thick solid concrete. The walls are 18 inches. All this is to protect the precious Dalis, of course, of which there will be 2,140, including 96 oil paintings.

The Dali Museum will be occupied throughout 2011 with a special exhibit called Viva la Revelacion!, displaying all paintings and highlighting other major works from the permanent collection to celebrate the new building. An Education Gallery will feature student exhibits and invite visitors of all ages to explore Dali's illusions and visual experiments.

Gallery: The New Dali Museum - St. Petersburg, Florida

Tags: Cristina of Spain, Dali, Dali Museum, Florida, Infanta Cristina, Salvador Dali, St. Petersburg

Dali Swiped From Dutch Digs

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Art

Armed robbers absconded with two paintings from the Scheringa Museum for Realist Art in Spanbroek last Friday. One of them was a piece by Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali. An exact number of thieves was not reported, but they were "several," and they wore masks. Walking into this museum with guns, they threatened the museum staff and dashed off wit the prize.

Driving off in a little black car, the art bandits left with "Adolescence," painted by Dali in 1941, and "La Musicienne," by Polish art deco painter Tamara de Lempicka (1929). Both paintings ~~are~~ were owned by the museum.

If you have a taste for Dali, look for the fence. Just don't get caught!

Source

Tags: amsterdam, art, art theft, artist, ArtTheft, dali, netherlands, salvador dali, SalvadorDali, surreal, surrealism, surrealist

Alitalia To Put Art Collection Up For Sale

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Wings, Art

Italian aircraft carrier Alitalia has a resource some other carriers don't in order to help raise funds. Alitalia is currently looking into selling its prized modern art collection to help to reduce debts, as it prepares for a relaunch next month under new ownership. The collection of over 200 pieces includes works by Salvador Dali, Giorgio De Chirico and Giacomo Balla, as well as sculptures by Giacomo Manzu and Mario Ceroli. The airline began its collection in the 1950s and the pieces are now at Alitalia offices in Rome, Milan, Turin and New York, or in storage. Christie's is reportedly making a valuation of 193 of its works of art and is said to be choosing 50 works of the greatest value and interest to be auctioned off. The news comes just after German airline Lufthansa launched "Lufthansa Italia", a new airline based at Milan Malpensa, to serve main European cities, including London.

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Tags: airline, alitalia, art, dali, jets

"Bird In Hand" Compact Designed by Salvador Dali

by Rigel Celeste (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Cosmetics and Fragrance

Talk about a "designer" accessory -- this post WWII "Bird in Hand" compact was designed by artist Salvador Dali himself. Of course you would never really use it, but talk about an interesting collector's piece! He's a cute little bird (not at all bizarre like so many of Dali's art pieces) with all kinds of compartments inside. He opens up by pushing on the tail, which reveals a place for powder (the original puff is intact) and a place in the tail for pills, plus his head pulls off as a place for lipstick. $1695

Very cool and funky -- they just don't make them like this anymore!

Via Book of Joe

Gallery: Salvador Dali "Bird In Hand" Compact