What were you doing when you were 14 years old? Possibly spending your days playing a little GoldenEye on N64 until your new bedtime at 11 p.m.? Or girls, were you experiencing the joys of puberty and adolescence? Whatever you were doing at the time, it seems trite when you consider that at the age of 14 Salvador Dal? was working on paintings currently on display in the new Dal? exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Over the years, Dal? has been best known for his highly-sexualized surrealist paintings, but this exhibit proves that there is so much more to his art. Yes, this exhibit is home to several paintings in which male and female genitalia are blatantly on display, but it also features his earlier, more traditional post-Impressionist work. On one wall you can see the vast range of styles with which Dal? experimented -- not just his almost-photographic surrealism. Also unique to this exhibit are the displays of Dal?'s works that go beyond the paintbrush and the canvas. Dal? was not satisfied with simply portraying his ideas through painting, so he brought them to life by creating three-dimensional figures of some of his works. Though that may sound a bit disturbing, the most impressive of these are an actual sofa shaped like two lush, red lips and a rotating electric hologram entitled First Cylindric Chronohologram Portrait of Alice Cooper's Brain. For the film lovers out there, this exhibit also shows a dream sequence from Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound which Dal? designed, and is obviously inspired by his old pal Freud.
The Video Gallery on the first floor of the Museum screens Dal?'s two major cinematic works, one of which, oddly enough, was completed in 2003 by Disney.
After five years of planning and coordinating with the Palazzo Grassi Museum in Venice, Italy (which is simultaneously running a similar Dal? exhibit), one finally has an opportunity to get a glimpse of the many facets of Dal?'s personality and work. Though guest lecturer Hugh Manatee jokingly pointed out that "orgies excited Dal?," this exhibit does more than display his ideas of sex -- it shows Dal?'s sense of humor and his ability to work with many different kinds of media. The exhibit runs until May 15, but order your ticket early because this is the best thing to happen to Philly since the Eagles almost won the Super Bowl.
