ISTANBUL.-The Sabanci University Sakip Sabanci Museum (SSM), with the sponsorship of Akbank and in cooperation with the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation, opens today one of the 20th century’s most important artists and representative of the Surrealist movement Salvador Dalí. The signature ceremony for the sponsorship for the exhibition “Salvador Dalí: A Surrealist in Istanbul” took place on 24 March 2008 at the SSM. Participating in the ceremony were SSM Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer, Akbank General Manager Zafer Kurtul, Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation President Ramon Boixados Malé and Director of the Centre for Dalinian Studies Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation Montse Aguer Teixidor.

In the opening speech of the meeting, SSM Director Dr. Nazan Ölçer stated that “In accordance with the mission of the SSM and in succession to the works of Picasso and Rodin, we consider hosting the exhibition of the works of Salvador Dalí, another of the great names in western art, one of the turning point for our museum. The substructure of our museum gives us the ability to host an exhibition of this magnitude. By means of a variety of activities that will take place within the framework of this exhibition we will achieve our goal of presenting the work of Salvador Dalí in all its facets to the Turkish people.”

Akbank General Manager Zafer Kurtul noted that “Akbank is proud to be together with and be a sponsor of the exhibition of the genius Salvador Dalí, who is accepted as a leading figure of Surrealism and who is beyond his age with his unlimited creative mind. We believe that in its 60th year, Akbank will find in this exhibition the opportunity to emphasize its dynamic, innovative, forward-looking and creative nature.”

Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation President Ramon Boixados Malé expressed his enthousiasm at bringing the works of Salvador Dalí for the first time to Istanbul, a key place where the most important cultures of humankind history meet. He thanked the representatives of Sabanci University and SSM along with Akbank for their efforts in the realization of this exhibition in whose great success he felt the utmost confidence.

Curator of the exhibition Montse Aguer Teixidor, stated that “For the first time we present Salvador Dalí in Istanbul as a unique, innovative, peculiar, brilliant and different artist. We wish to be able to bring the spirit of such museum, so everyone can understand and get a closer look at Dalí’s thinking, his obsessions, his iconography, and the dreamy and surrealist world of a universal, provocative and unique artist.”

The exhibition will consist of a comprehensive retrospective of the works of Salvador Dalí; in addition to 270 works consisting of oil paintings, drawings and works of graphic art, a variety of manuscripts, photographs and other documents will be included. The exhibition is also distinguished by the fact that it is the largest single exhibition ever organised outside Figueres exclusively with material from the Foundation’s collection. The exhibition can be viewed between 20 September 2008 and 20 January 2009.