The World Of Salvador Dali

In the popular imagination, possibly no other artist’s work is more recognizable than that of Salvador Dalí. Indeed, for many he is the ultimate mad artist, whose singular vision remorselessly probed his own psychological depths. His nightmarish visions and bizarre landscapes express the angst and turbulence of the twentieth century. Dalí’s creativity embraced many different modes of expression and was never constrained by any one style. Over eight decades, the prodigious range of Dalí’s activity spanned every conceivable medium, from painting and drawing to sculpture, film, furniture, books, stage design and jewelry, not to mention his highly eccentric public persona, which could be considered an art form in itself.

Life Magazine wrote that one funhouse at the 1939 World's Fair stood out among the others: "Dal's Dream of Venus, the creation of famed Surrealist painter Salvador Dal, is the most recent addition to the still-growing list of amusement-area girl shows and easily the most amazing. Weird building contains a dry tank and a wet tank. In the wet tank girls swim under water, milk a bandaged-up cow, tap typewriter keys which float like seaweed. Keyboard of piano is painted on the recumbent female figure made of rubber. In dry tank...a sleeping Venus reclines in 36-foot bed, covered with white and red satin, flowers, and leaves. Scattered about the bed are lobsters frying on beds of hot coals and bottles of champagne....All this is most amusing and interesting." The building's modern, expressionistic exterior, with an entrance framed by a woman's legs, and shocking interior, including the bare-breasted "living liquid ladies" who occupied the tanks, caused quite a stir. The funhouse was so successful that it reopened for a second season, but once torn down it faded from memory and its outlandishness became the stuff of urban myth. Now, more than 60 years later, a collection of photographs of the Dream of Venus by Eric Schaal has been discovered. In stunning black-and-white and early Kodachrome, they show both the construction and the completion of the funhouse-from Dal painting a melting clock to showgirls parading for their audience. Salvador Dal's Dream of Venus reveals not only an eccentric work of architecture, but also a one-of-a-kind creation by one of the most fertile imaginations of the 20th century.

This startling early autobiography takes Dalí through his late 30s and "communicates the...total picture of himself (Dalí) sets out to portray" — Books. Superbly illustrated with over 80 photographs and scores of drawings.

A comprehensive tribute to artist Salvador Dali. Dali's life parades before us in its scintillating diversity, as we follow his career in art as well as his prolific activity in many other areas, including as publicist of himself.

Published in collaboration with the Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation, The Treasures of Salvador Dali offers one of the most up-to-date and intriguing views of the life and works of one of the world?s most famous artists of the 20th century. Augmented by the inclusion of facsimiles of over 30 documents from the archives of the Foundation, this beautiful book takes the reader through the life of one of the leading lights of the Surrealist movement. From his first forays into the world of art to his visits to Paris and meetings with Picasso and the Surrealists, Dali broke boundaries like few others, and themed chapters look at his fascination with other artists and writers, his collaborations with such giants as thefilm-makers Luis Bu?uel, Alfred Hitchcock and Walt Disney as well as his adherence to and then expulsion from the Surrealist movement. Containing some rarely and previously unpublished works, The Treasures of Dali culminates in an examination of the legacy that Dali has left behind and how successive artists have been influenced by him.