No celebration of Spain would be complete without a little Dalí. That’s why, timed to match Memphis In May and its honored country this year, the Belz Museum of Asian and Judaic Art is showing “Dalí on Tour,” an exhibit of photographic reproductions on loan from the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The exhibit has 31 Dalís on display. Some of them, like The Hallucinogenic Toreador (above right), are riddles to be solved through careful study (start with the green necktie). Others, like the masterwork The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus (above left), are gorgeous (commissioned) statements on U.S. manifest destiny and Dalí’s Catholicism.
A self-guided-tour booklet provides background on the featured works, which cover the artist’s four main stylistic periods: early years, transitional period, surrealist period, and classical period.
Watch Un Chien Andalou to get yourself ready; just don’t slice your eyeball with a razor blade. You’re gonna need your peepers for the art show.
“Dalí on Tour,” Belz Museum of Asian and Judaic Art, 119 S. Main. Through May 31st. Tuesdays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Saturdays-Sundays, noon-5 p.m. Call 523-ARTS (2787) or go to www.belzmuseum.org for more information.