A melting watch; a telephone receiver that is really a lobster: the art of surrealism is all about such unlikely juxtapositions. So how about putting the original work of Salvador Dalí , the great Spanish artist who created these famous, bizarre images, on the pavements of Shrewsbury this summer, alongside its standard-issue pillar boxes and lamp-posts?
This weekend, the organisers of an ambitious arts trail in the Shropshire town are celebrating an unexpected coup. Three pieces made by Dalí are to play a starring role in this year’s trail – making their British debuts.
“It is amazing,” said Jess Richards, the founder of the town’s annual creative event. “We asked because I like to try to go one better each year, but we did not imagine that this would be possible.”
A well-known bronze sculpture, Surrealist Piano, made in 1954, is to take centre stage, while Dalí’s Homage to Terpsichore and Dalínian Dancer will also feature.
Terpsichore, the muse of dance, was judged to be a fitting participant this year because the theme of the 2023 trail is “Movement”. Richards chose the theme to mark the 350th anniversary of the birth of the Salopian choreographer and writer John Weaver, who was a key influence on British ballet and pantomime performance.
The Swiss-based custodians of one of the largest groupings of Dalí artworks, the Dalí Universe group, were also drawn to the theme of movement and so agreed to take part. The works they are to loan have an estimated joint value of £3.3m.
“Jonathan-Lee Soden who runs the Soden Collection, a gallery in the town, mentioned he had been in discussions with James Sanders at the Dalí Universe, so I decided to try them,” said Richards, who runs an arts and crafts business in Shrewsbury. “They liked the way we don’t just put on an experience for people to simply look at. Our key is to inspire local people.”
Sanders, a project manager at Dalí Universe, agreed to the loan after a site visit to Shrewsbury town centre. “The Dalí Universe receives a great many exhibition requests every year,” he said. “But the wonderful historic city centre location and the particular relevance of the theme made this a great exhibition project proposal. The concepts of movement and dance are very important and very apparent in the art of Salvador Dalí.”
Dalí, who was 84 when he died at his home town of Figueres in Spain in 1989, was one of the most eccentric figures of the international avant-garde movement known as surrealism. His works are packed with striking, dream-like visions that together created a new kind of mythological world.
He described his three-dimensional works as “transformations”, rather than sculptures, and his Surrealist Piano is a key example. The replacement of the traditional wooden legs of a grand-piano with those of a female dancer turn the instrument into a hybrid creature that can not only create music, but dance to it. Before the trail is launched on 1 June, Dalínian Dancer is also to go on display at a Clarendon fine art gallery space.
Moving the three sculptures into the town is no simple matter, however. Art installers, import brokers and a huge crane will all be involved. Once in situ, the insured artworks will be monitored by CCTV and protected by a special series of security provisions set up by Shrewsbury council, Richards said.
Artists in the wider area around Shrewsbury are also invited to submit work for the trail, which is in its third year. Successful candidates will be exhibited at Shrewsbury museum and art gallery, along with Theatre Seven and the Parade, throughout July and August.
