MIND GAMES
Early in his career, Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí’s penchant for outlandish self-promotion almost finished him off.
A group photo records the scene just before his flirtation with death in a London gallery on June 11, 1936, the centre dominated by Dalí wearing a cumbersome diving suit.
The image, now just one of a vast list of deliberate Dalí eccentricities, can be seen at Te Papa’s sweeping new show, Surrealist Art: Masterpieces from Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, which opens next week.
The photo, taken at the New Burlington Galleries, marked the launch of Britain’s first exhibition of surrealist art. It was an important event for Dalí, aged 32, vying for attention with the likes of Man Ray, Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp and René Magritte, with poet Dylan Thomas serving boiled string in teacups.
Wanting to stand out, Dalí rented the airtight suit, in which he intended to present a
