ENIGMA – Salvador Dali Museum in Prague

The world’s largest private collection of statues by surrealist giant Salvador Dali has visited Prague. Opened since Thursday, December 12, visitors can visit and view the exhibition called Enigma (“The Secret”) in the newly established museum on Opletalova Street.

The Salvador Dali Museum will present visitors with a unique exhibition featuring his most interesting sculptures from his career. Some of his works have brought Dali close to comparison with Sigmund Freud, the famous Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis theory.

“This museum is called Enigma, or ‘mystery,’ and we chose Prague because it has the reputation of being a mysterious city. This concept of the exhibition has been developed for several years and Prague was suitable for it,” says Roberto Panté, creative director of the museum.

The individual exhibits are the result of how the paranoia and mental obsessions that took hold of Dali’s mind have led the artist to lose a sense of reality. Classical parameters that lose consistency, spatial and temporal distortions in the field of human life become soft, unlimited, without boundaries or keeping the sense of reality. Hence, surrealism.

Delirium of irrationality is thus embodied in monstrous beings, animals, forms that can be interpreted differently and anyhow. Dali’s language is not immediately understandable and very often does not hide the true meaning, but it is just anxiety overcoming, the compression of contrasting moves that seeks a form, a way out.

An absolutely unique and surprisingly bold and surprising exhibition featuring 15 statues of incalculable value from the private collection of the famous Italian patron of art Beniamino Levi, who was also a close friend of Salvador Dali. Among the most interesting exhibits are undoubtedly the statue of Space Elephant (Kosmický slon), Space Venus (Vesmírná Venuše) and Snail and the Angel (Hlemýžď a Anděl).

“I met Salvador Dali around 1975, when I wanted to present an exhibition of Surrealism in Milan and lacked his paintings, so I went to Paris to see him. That was also the first time I bought his two statues. I exhibited them in various places around the world and I saw that there was a great interest in them. Therefore, I thought that I would not sell them, but on the contrary that I would like to buy more statues from Dali. So I started buying them at different auctions. Unfortunately, there were not enough of them. I went back to Dali and with the help of his wife Gala I persuaded him to create new statues,” adds Mr. Levi.

In addition to the sculptures, visitors to the Enigma Museum in Prague can also look forward to fifty prints of this peculiar Spanish artist, including one of the most famous works – L’oeil Fleuri, whose original was again lent to the Prague Museum by Mr. Levi himself. There will also be a special collection of glass statues and jewelry in the style of Salvador Dali, which are made out of gold and diamonds.

It is interesting that selected exhibits can be purchased on site.

The Enigma Museum is located on Opletalova 1535/4 in Prague and the exhibition is open daily from 9 am to 8 pm. Full admission is 320 CZK, and children up to 6 years of age have free admission and students can use discounted admission for 160 CZK.

For more visit www.daliprague.cz