Reimagining Nature: Dalí’s Floral Fantasies is opening at the Dalí’ Museum starting tomorrow, May 18.
This exhibit features three rarely displayed suites of botanical prints made by Dalí between 1968 and 1972, highlighting some of the most treasured works on paper in the Museum’s permanent collection. On display together for the first time in two decades, these astonishing works transform renderings of fruits and flowers, reimagining them as surreal creations at the height of the Pop era.
Crafted late in Dalí’s career, the three suites from the Museum’s vault, Flora Dalínae (FlorDalí), 1968, FlorDalí (Les Fruits), 1969 and Florals (Surrealist Flowers), 1972, were created when Dalí’s printmaking practice was becoming increasingly prolific. In these prints, Dalí often painted over original botanical illustrations, such as those by the 18- and 19th-century artists Pierre-Antoine Poiteau and Pierre-Joseph Redouté. The works in this exhibition transform these traditional depictions of fruits and flowers by juxtaposing incongruent elements, incorporating dream-like characters and iconic symbols often seen throughout Dalí’s career, such as flies, ants and melting clocks.
In addition to the print suites, a selection of Dalí’s paintings incorporating botanical imagery along with archival material, including floral advertisements designed by the artist, will be on display in the exhibition.
You can see Dalí’s Floral Fantasies through October 20. For more information, visit TheDali.org.
