A leading figure of the Surrealist movement, Salvador Dalí left a cultural imprint that is instantly recognisable—whether one thinks of his melting clocks in The Persistence of Memory, striking self-portraits, or his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock or Elsa Schiaparelli.
Marking 120 years since Dalí’s birth last year, The Independent’s Alastair Smart wrote: “If the world was a stage, Dalí wanted to be chief protagonist.”
Indian art enthusiasts will now have the opportunity to experience Salvador Dalí’s work up close as Dalí: The Argillet Collection arrives in New Delhi, featuring over 200 etchings, drawings, and tapestries.
First exhibited in India in November 2024, the collection has been curated by Christine Argillet from the archives of her father, French publisher Pierre Argillet, Dalí’s longtime collaborator.
The two met in France in the late 1950s and collaborated on a series of works over the next two decades. This working relationship evolved into a strong friendship that lasted till Dalí’s death in 1989.
Before his death in 2001, Mr Argillet amassed a significant personal collection of rare Dalí works, which Ms Argillet has meticulously curated into distinct sections.
“Dali had always been fascinated by the Indian myths that have given birth to many of the Greek, Roman and European mythologies,” Ms Argillet told The Indian Express.
“For this reason, he had illustrated for my father the hippies movement by a series of 11 etchings in 1970. Dalí wanted to bring a parallel between the fascination of Westerners for Indian spirituality, and of Indians for Western culture.”
The exhibition, previously showcased at the Musée Boymans in Rotterdam, the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, the Museum of Art in Tokyo, and the Dalí Museum in Figueres, Spain, includes sketches inspired by photographs Pierre Argillet took during a trip to India in the 1970s—a period when young Americans flocked there in search of enlightenment.
An intriguing story about Dalí’s connection with India dates back to 1967 when the country’s national airline, Air India, commissioned him to design a limited edition set of ashtrays for their valued clients—paying him not with money, but with an elephant.
According to reports, Air India’s then-public relations officer, Jot Singh, happened to meet Dalí by chance at a New York hotel, where he made the request. The porcelain ashtrays were inspired by Dalí’s 1937 work Swans Reflecting Elephants and featured a design that created double images—appearing as swans or elephants depending on how they were placed.
Dalí reportedly requested an elephant as payment, saying: “I wish to keep him in my olive grove and watch the patterns of shadows the moonlight makes through the twigs on his back.”
The airline agreed and flew a two-year-old elephant from Bengaluru, the capital of the southwestern Indian state of Karnataka, to Geneva. From there, the elephant was taken to Dalí’s home in Cadaqués, Spain.
Dalí’s plan to ride the elephant across the Alps never came to fruition, and the animal remained in a Barcelona zoo from 1971 until its death in 2018.
The story aligns with Ms Argillet’s recollection of the artist, whom she remembers as “a very humourous and elegant man, often having an eccentric and joyful way of being”.
Ms Argillet, who spent much of her childhood in Dalí’s presence and was fondly nicknamed “The Little Infante” by him, described how his love of blending different cultures is evident in some of the works on display.
“We can see these elements in the Santiago of Compostella etching where Dalí puts together hippy guitarists, but also a middle-aged cellist with an elephant and a Chinese character next to the famous Santiago of Compostela, a pilgrimage place. In many of the works presented here, you’ll see ‘yin-yang’ shapes, bringing the idea of love into the story,” she said.
Several works in the exhibition draw upon mythology, showcasing Dalí’s unique interpretation of the symbolism within these stories. Visitors will have the opportunity to see a series of 21 etchings illustrating Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s tragic play Faust in the piece Secret Poems by Apollinaire.
Also on display will be Study for the Demons, a series of illustrations Dalí created in 1968 based on poems by Mao Zedong, combining political satire with an exploration of Chinese culture.
Dalí Comes to India will be exhibited in New Delhi at the India Habitat Centre from 7 to 13 February, before moving to Masarrat Gallery by Bruno Art Group from 15 February to 16 March.
