An Addiction to Cinema. Painting and Film

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The exhibition proposed that Dalí’s personal engagement with cinema, a filmmaker, and an art director—was fundamental to his understanding of modernism and deeply affected his art …

The exhibition was organized by Tate Modern in collaboration with The Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation.

Images Courtesy of MoMA, New York.

Whether still or moving, painted or shot, Dali’s works are meant to wholly intoxicate their viewers, offering an experience provoked by an image but played out in the mind… —JODI HAUPTMAN

About the Artist

Towards the end of 1945, Walt Disney invited Dalí to work on a six-minute short that was to combine real images with animated drawings and be set to the ballad “Destino” by Armando Dominguez, a Mexican songwriter. Dalí’s episode was intended to be part of a composite animated feature along the lines of Fantasia (1940). In January 1946, Dalí began an intense eight-month period at the Disney studio. Dalí produced numerous color sketches and storyboard drawings to tell a tale of star-crossed lovers: Chronos, the god of time, and a mortal girl. Only about 15 to 18 seconds of the film—the section with two tortoises—was completed before the project was abandoned, due to either a lack of finances or the controversial nature of Dalí’s imagery. Using this short sequence as a guide and relying on Hench’s memories, a new team of Disney animators completed the film in 2003.

Dalí’s late projects and his engagement with popular cinema prepared him to work on Chaos and Creation (1960), a documentary he made with photographer Philippe Halsman, is considered to be one of the first artist’s videos ever made. Unable to give a speech at a convention, Dalí sent this video to address the attendees remotely. Loosely structured as a lecture and a performance in which the creation of an artwork is the result, the video shows Halsman, who often worked with Dalí, playing the role of commentator, translator, and straight man to the artist’s frenzied presence.

Posted: April 14, 2012 at 10:48 pm