Bringing together more than 130 paintings, drawings, scenarios, and films by Salvador Dalí (1904–1989), this exhibition explores the role that cinema played in the artist’s work. Both an inspiration and an outlet for experimentation, film was Dalí’s passion, and cinematic vision became a model for his own work. Collaborations between Dalí and legendary filmmakers are displayed alongside his paintings and other works, illuminating the ways in which ideas, iconography, and pictorial strategies are shared and transformed across mediums. Among the provocative works on display are Un Chien andalou, a film made with Luis Buñuel, which features the notorious, almost unwatchable sequence of an eye being slit by a razor; L’Age d’Or, another collaboration with Buñuel and one of the landmarks of Surrealist film; projects undertaken in Hollywood with Alfred Hitchcock and Walt Disney; and such important paintings as The First Days of Spring and Illumined Pleasures.
In conjunction with the gallery exhibition, a series of screenings in the MoMA theaters presents the classic and avant-garde motion pictures Dalí treasured, films on which he collaborated, and examples of his legacy in contemporary cinema:
- Salvador Dalí: Creator/Collaborator
- Dalí Laughs
- Salvador Dalí and Three American Surrealists
- Salvador Dalí: Consumer/Consumed
Coordinated for MoMA by Jodi Hauptman, Curator, Department of Drawings. The film exhibition is organized by Anne Morra, Assistant Curator, Department of Film.
