Salvador Dalí "Un Chien Andalou"

From: Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Limited Edition: 25
Exhibition: Dalí: Painting & Film
Material: Printed 2-ply vinyl
Dimensions: 35" x 96" (88cm x 243cm)

Hanging Hardware Included

Summary

This banner features a still from Dalí's 1929 short created in collaboration wtih director Luis Buñuel, "Un Chien Andalou" (An Andalousian Dog). A man holds open an woman's eye while wielding a razor blade. The banner spares us the moment of the cutting, but exudes the exquisite tension of the moment before it arrives. The black and white still repeats three times on the banners, replicating Dalí's vision in triplicate.

Description

Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí painted dream worlds of his own creation. Barren landscapes dotted with melting clocks and silly-puttyesque nudes were par for the course. The recent exhibition Dalí: Painting and Film, however, explored the closely intertwined relationships of his painted images to "moving" pictures. As a lover of film as well an occasional screenwriter, filmmaker and art director, it is not surprising that Dalí would embrace this new medium in his own unique way.

Beginning in the late 1920s, Dalí started to collaborate with his friend and fellow Spaniard Luis Buñuel (1900-1983) to create silent, black-and-white short films with hauntingly surreal imagery. Their first collaboration in 1929 lead to Un Chien Andalou (An Andalousian Dog). In the opening scene of the 16-minute film, a man hold’s open a woman’s eye and proceeds to slice it with a razor. This sadistic act is a key element of the “plot” of the film, as the man seems to be the woman’s husband and there is a potential “lover” afoot. Of course, there is no direct plot line in these Dalí/Buñuel collaborations, and both time and imagery reamain mercilessly at play throughout.

It is a close up image of the woman’s face that is featured on these banners. The woman’s unemotional face with her eye held open by the man’s hands is repeated three times, as if a flickering piece of film. At the bottom of the banner, a narrow black band features white text that reads “LACMA/October 24, 2007 – January 6, 2008”. The other side of the banner is black with white text that reads “Dali/Painting & Film”. Another banner from the exhibition makes a perfect companion to this one, showing Dali’s exploration of the human eye in his painting Spellbound.

Provenance

These banners were displayed around Los Angeles from October 14, 2007 through January 6, 2008 to promote the exhibition, Dalí: Painting & Film at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The exhibition was also shown at The Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Modern, and the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.

About the Artist

Learn more about Salvador Dalí