Dalí and Picasso celebrated in Northern Catalonia

Some say that Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí admired each other’s work. Others say they had a rather tense relationship. In any case, the influence of both artists on the places where they worked is indisputable. Northern Catalonia is presenting two exhibitions which show the border-crossing connection between the art of these two masters and the cities of Northern Catalonia where they painted. Thus, the Museum of Modern Art of Ceret has opened the exhibition 'Dalí: Eureka', with more than 300 pieces by the famous Catalan artist that reveal how science influenced him. The exhibition includes 25 paintings loaned by museums and private collections as well as objects, drawings, and manuscripts by the artist himself as well as works by Man Ray, Buñuel, and Robert Descharnes. Dalí was interested in a range of scientific disciplines, from astrophysics through genetics and psychoanalysis to the theory of relativity. An understanding of this interest helps reveal new aspects of the artist’s work.

Perpignan, perhaps the most well known city in Northern Catalonia, on the French side of the Pyrenees, has recently seen the reopening of the Hyacinthe Rigaud Museum of Art with an exhibition titled “Picasso-Perpinyà, An Intimate Circle, 1953-1955” which reviews the artist’s influence on the city. The exhibit gathers more than 100 works and documents, among them photographs and unedited videos that are testimony to the artist’s relationship with Perpignan.

The Dalí exhibition at Ceret's Museum of Popular Art aims to create a particular itinerary of the genius’ work through 300 pieces, which show the influence of scientific disciplines on his artistic trajectory. In total, 180 pieces of the artist can be seen, of which 25 are paintings on loan from the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, the Pompidou Centre in Paris, and several private collections, as well as from the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation. The exhibition includes objects related to science and anatomy, drawings, and illuminated manuscripts by Dalí himself, supported by photographs, images, and movies with the artist as protagonist. Works of other artists like Man Ray, Brassai, Buñuel, Andre Raffray, and Robert Descharnes will also be shown.