“Dali versus Warhol. Art, music, film” – exhibition in Warsaw

More than 120 works by Dali and Warhol will be available in Warsaw from 22 April. The exhibition “Dali versus Warhol. Art, music, film” will be available in the Palace of Culture and Science.

In the capital of Poland there will be two, probably the most characteristic, artists of the XX century – Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol. The controversial artists have become a legend already in their lifetimes, their works entered the history, changing the world of art. Both of them would be the creators of how they were perceived by the world. They provoked, were the reason for scandals, they would blur the borders between life and art. They were eccentric, bizarre and controversial, thus for some people they were interesting, fascinating, others would despise them. They were known to everyone. They were the inspiration for generations of artists, they influenced art, music and film of the XX century. Both of them liked fame and money. Dali got the nickname of Avida Dollars (Striving for Money) that was an anagram of his name. Warhol believed that in the place of a picture worth 200 thousand dollars, it is better to put money on the wall.

Organizers of the exhibition emphasize that many of the works have never been exhibited in Poland before. They point at the differences and also what is mutual for the artists. All the works neighbour with the famous installations and commercial projects and photos treated as a unique recording of a moment.

When crossing the threshold of the exhibition, the audience will get in via a symbolic gate made out of circling banknotes. Then there are the main rooms and gates – the Gate of Marilyn Monroe, Gate of Cinema that refer to the iconic films by Salvador and Andy. There are original graphics, sculptures. The sense of smell is stimulated by the Temple of Dali’s Smell. A necessary point of the exhibition are rows of bust with the wigs of Andy and moustache of Dali. The amateurs of handcraft, supervised  by an instructor of serigraphy, will have the ocassion to make their own T-shirt with the graphics prepared at the workshops. You will also have the ocassion to get into the replica of interior of the famous Warhol’s Factory – the legendary atelier of the artist in New York where he not only created but also spent whole time with the New York bohemia. For the lovers of music – a treasure will be the collection of original covers of CDs of many ensembles that cooperated with Warhol, among others the Rolling Stones or Velvet Underground. The collection was granted by a private collectioner,it has been never presented before. The covers are of the main place in the exhibition and they are one of the most important exhibits. The exhibition ends with crossing the showy Gate of Chupa Chups. The packet of the lollipops was designed by Salvador Dali.

For the first time the artists met in 1965 in a prestigous New York hotel of St. Regis Hotel. Dali invited Andy to the suite 1610 that he would occupy often. There was also David McCabe, a photographer that was to document the meeting. According to his report, Dali put a clothe on Warhol’s head that Inkas used to wear. After five uncomfortable minutes Andy decided to leave and he told McCabe to damage the negative with the photos in which he was sitting with the particular headwear.  At the following meeting Dali knotted Andy and poured paint on him. Through the following twenty years Andy  was visiting Dali many times, although Dali would always try to check how far he could get during the meetings. In 1978 Dali granted Warhol a particular gift  – a whole bag of plastic plates used by him. Andy was fascinated with Salvador. He liked the gift very much.

The exhibition is available until 7 October 2017. The official website of the exhibition in the link.