LONDON.- Melting clocks, Mae West’s lips and a twenty foot high Space Elephant are just a few of the extraordinary works of art on display at the Dali Universe. Enter the genial mind of the greatest surrealist, self-publicist and creative genius of the Twentieth Century, Salvador Dali, in this stunning, permanent 30,000 square foot retrospective located on London’s South Bank.

The Dali Universetakes visitors on an unforgettable tour of over 500 works of art - the largest collection of his work in the world. Meanwhile for a souvenir with a difference, visit the fine art gallery located within the exhibition, the largest source of original Dalí portfolios and sculptures in the UK.

Featuring over 500 works of art, most of which has never been exhibited before in the UK, the Dali Universe showcases extensive collections of his sculptures, rare graphics, jewellery, gold and glass objects, etchings and watercolours. The exhibition also features Dalí’s vast 11 metre-wide mesmerising oil painting ‘Spellbound’ created for the set of Hitchcock’s 1945 Hollywood movie.

The Dali Universe boasts three themed areas of ‘Sensuality and Femininity’, ‘Religion and Mythology’ and ‘Dreams and Fantasy’.

‘Sensuality and Feminity’ includes the world-renowned Mae West Lips Sofa and the famous sculpture Buste de Femme Retrospectif, which remains one of the defining classics of Surrealism from the 1930’s. Graphics illustrating the major themes of literature are also featured, including ten rare lithographs from the Romeo and Juliet series and twelve erotic Casanova images.

‘Religion and Mythology’ reflects Salvador Dalí’s tempestuous and ambiguous relationship with the Church. Two of Dalí’s most famous masterpieces - the epic illustrations of the Bible and of Dante’s Divine Comedy, number well over 100 graphics in this area.

In ‘Dreams and Fantasy’, Dalí’s enduring fascination with the subconscious as the true canvas for expression of personality comes into vivid focus via his sculptural works such as the Persistence of Memory and the Profile of Time. Other works that refer to a life lived through dreams include the enchanting Alice in Wonderland and Don Quichotte.

Mr Beniamino Levi, President of the Stratton Foundation
Mr Beniamino Levi, President of the Stratton Foundation, has carefully assembled the Salvador Dalí Collection over the past 40 years. Artworks have been specifically chosen in order to reveal the foundations that lay beneath the artist’s inspired genius, and to offer an understanding of his ideas and his life. Comprehensively, these pieces allow exhibition visitors to delve into the labyrinth of Dalí’s creative imagination. For Mr Levi, the collection is the culmination of many years of admiration, astonishment and involvement in the Surreal world of Dalí.

Mr Levi’s adventure as a Dalí collector, as well as his relationship with Salvador Dalí himself, started in the late 1960s. At the time, Mr Levi was in the process of organising a Surrealist exhibition at his renowned art gallery in Milan, focusing on the prominent artists who took part in the movement during the 1920s and 1930s, as well as others who were strongly influenced by this movement. He had managed to collect paintings by Ernst, Picabia, Lam, Matta, Magritte, Masson, De Chirico and many others. Unfortunately Mr Levi was unable to locate any works by Salvador Dalí. He quickly concluded that no Surrealist exhibition would make sense without the works of the Catalan genius, because without the inclusion of Dalí, the show would have been incomplete both historically and artistically. Dalí was a defining entity in establishing the theory of Surrealism.

Mr Levi left for the famed Maurice Hotel in Paris, in order to meet Dalí, and to buy some of his paintings, hoping to acquire those that would be most representative of his style. Both excited and nervous at the prospect of meeting the eccentric Salvador Dalí, Mr Levi describes the meeting as ‘extraordinary’, and ‘exceeding all my expectations’. Dalí’s personality and his curiosity were overpowering, and his endless monologues touched on astronomy, art, philosophy and mathematics. Despite feeling overwhelmed, Mr Levi was fascinated by the strength of his ideas and his charismatic, yet theatrical, antics. That first meeting made a lasting impression on Mr Levi, eventually changing the course of his life.

After that day, and after the exhibition, Mr Levi did not have the chance to meet with Dalí until several years later. The meeting took place in the same Maurice Hotel in Paris, and was held in order to discuss his dealings in the artist’s work. Having positive results, their strange relationship evolved and grew stronger. During the 1970s many other meetings followed, both in Paris and in his house in Cadaqués, Spain.

During the course of one of these encounters, Mr Levi noticed some sculptures located in the studio where their meetings took place. He thought these were the same sculptures Dalí had described as those he created when he was alone and wanted to relax from the obsessive and hallucinatory tensions that bothered him frequently during the day.

Very impressed, Mr Levi asked Dalí and his secretary whether he could buy the incredible sculptures, and he urged Dalí to create more. It was in this way that Mr Levi began to collect Salvador Dalí’s sculpture on behalf of private collectors, searching all over the world for works that Dalí had created in the past. Through old Surrealist exhibition catalogues, Mr Levi was able to locate many artworks created and exhibited by Dalí throughout his illustrious career. The research was thrilling and exhausting, and ultimately it resulted in a major Dalí sculptural collection that is now the most important of its kind in the world.

Mr Levi states, “My experience with Dalí has been a lifelong adventure, and I am secure in the knowledge that it is a relationship that will continue to enthral me for the rest of my life. With artworks amassed from around the world, in order to honour Dalí’s artistic legacy, I feel Dalí’s genius will be apparent to those who attend any of our exhibitions. Most importantly, rather than an average museum show, the Stratton Foundation’s Dalí Collection is a total Dalí experience – an immersion into the wild and vibrant imagination of Salvador Dalí. I hope that everyone will be as captivated by Dalí as I still am today, many years after my first encounter with the great Surrealist Master.”