HIGH MUSEUM OF ART PRESENTS 'SALVADOR DALI: THE LATE WORK'

A NEW EXHIBITION OPENING EXCLUSIVELY IN ATLANTA EXPLORES ARTIST SALVADOR DALI'S LATE WORKS, INCLUDING SEVERAL MAJOR PIECES THAT HAVEN'T BEEN SEEN IN THE US IN HALF A CENTURY. DALI IS BEST KNOWN AS A SURREALIST, HIS MELTING WATCHES AN ICONIC IMAGE OF THAT MOVEMENT. BUT AFTER ABOUT 10 YEARS, HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GROUP GREW STRAINED IN THE LATE 1930s FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS BOTH ARTISTIC AND POLITICAL. 'SALVADOR DALI: THE LATE WORK', OPENING AT THE HIGH MUSEUM OF ART IN ATLANTA ON SUNDAY, FOCUSES OF THAT PERIOD FROM 1940 TO 1983. THE EXHIBIT OPENS WITH PHOTOS BY AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHER PHILIPPE HALSMAN OF THE MUSTACHIOED ARTIST IN CRAZY POSES SHOWCASING WHAT IS DESCRIBED AS DALI'S ';WACKY SHOWMAN' SIDE. IT THEN MOVES ONTO SOME EARLIER WORKS TO GIVE VISITORS SOME BACKGROUND. FROM THERE, IT PROGRESSES TO DALI'S EXPLORATION OF 'NUCLEAR MYSTICISM', WHICH REFLECTS TWO RECURRING INFLUENCES ON DALI'S LATE WORK, HIS RETURN TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND NUCLEAR PHYSICS. A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THIS CONCEPT ID 'MADONNA OF PORT-LLIGAT', WHICH SHOWS THE MADONNA AND CHILD FRAGMENTED AND BREAKING INTO PARTICLES. THE LARGE-SCALE PAINTING IS ON LOAN FROM A MUSEUM IN JAPAN AND HASN'T BEEN SEEN IN THE US SINCE 1951. ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS IMAGES IN THE EXHIBITION IS 'CHRIST OF ST JOHN OF THE CROSS', STUNNING IN PART FOR ITS VANTAGE POINT, LOOKING DOWN FROM ABOVE ON THE CRUCIFIED CHRIST. ON AN ADJACENT WALL IS A PHOTO OF DALI WITH BOBBY KENNEDY IN FRONT OF THE PAINTING IN 1965, THE LAST TIME THE PAINTING WAS IN THE US FROM ITS HOME IN SCOTLAND. THE FINAL SECTION OF THE EXHIBITION CENTERS ON WHAT IS CALLED DALI'S POP ART, WHICH CAME WELL BEFORE SIMILAR COMMERCIAL EFFORTS BY ARTISTS LIKE ANDY WARHOL AND JEFF KOONS. THERE ARE BROOCHES SO GAUDY THEY LOOK LIKE COSTUME JEWELRY; A CHESS SET IN WHICH ALL THE PIECES ARE MOLDS OF HIS FINGERS, EXCEPT THE ROOKS WHICH ARE COPIES OF THE SALT SHAKERS FROM THE ST REGIS HOTEL; AND PORTRAITS OF AMERICAN HIGH SOCIETY FIGURES. THE LAST GALLERY HOUSE A HOLOGRAM OF ROCK STAR ALICE COOPER AND THE SISTINE MADONNA PAINTING FROM 1958 THAT SUPERIMPOSES THE IMAGE OF THE VIRGIN AND CHILD OVER A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE POPE'S EAR RENDERED IN A BENDAY DOT PATTERN, PRECEDING SIMILAR POP ART WORKS. A WALL OF TWO DOZEN MAGAZINE COVERS, JUST A FRACTION OF THE MANY HE APPEARED ON OVER THE YEARS, DEMONSTRATES HIS STATUS AS A TRUE CELEBRITY ARTIST.
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