For the first time ever, an exhibition of Salvador Dalí’s original works is being held in India, showcasing over 200 of his sketches, etchings, and watercolour paintings.
The exhibition opens Friday in Delhi and has been curated by Christine Argillet, daughter of French collector and Dalí’s close friend, Pierre Argillet.
“Dalí was fascinated by India, especially the West’s obsession with Indian mysticism during the 1960s and 70s,” Ms Argillet told the BBC.
Some of the artworks on display are inspired by photographs taken by her father during a trip to India in the 1970s at the height of the hippie movement.
These images blend Indian elements—elephants, temples, and mystic symbolism—into Dalí’s signature surrealist style, where human figures sprout flowers, eyeballs float in chaotic patterns, and fragmented body parts interact in dreamlike compositions.
“Appreciating Dalí’s art is like peeling back the layers of an onion; there’s always something new to discover,” Ms Argillet says.
Bringing Dalí’s works to India has been a meticulous five-year effort.
“Every sketch and artwork had to be thoroughly authenticated,” says Akshitta Aggarwal of Bruno Art Group, which is presenting the exhibition.
While this is Dalí’s first large-scale exhibition in India, it’s not the first time his work has touched Indian soil. In 1967, Dalí famously designed a set of whimsical ashtrays for Air India, the national airline at the time.
Instead of accepting money as payment, Dalí demanded a baby elephant.
After some searching, Air India sourced a baby elephant from a zoo in Bengaluru and flew it to Spain.
Dalí originally planned a grand journey across the Alps with the elephant, but his wife convinced him to abandon the idea.
Born in Spain in 1904, Dalí grew up in an era when the avant-garde movement was reshaping art in response to the aftermath of two world wars.
Influenced by artists like Pablo Picasso and André Breton, Dalí found his artistic voice in surrealism—a movement that sought to express thought without the constraints of reason.
Sigmund Freud’s theories on dreams and the subconscious had a profound impact on Dalí.
His paintings reflect dreamlike landscapes, blending reality with the bizarre and often incorporating shocking imagery that symbolized repressed desires and taboos.
“Dalí was a free-thinker who embraced all aspects of the human condition, including the unsettling and forbidden,” says Ms Argillet.
Dalí’s flamboyant personality was as striking as his art. Known for his upturned moustache, Dalí explained its origins in a 1955 BBC interview.
“At the end of dinner, I would put a little bit of date fruit in my moustache, and it stayed in place all afternoon,” he joked before admitting he used strong wax to shape it.
He described it as “very gay, very pointed, very aggressive.”
Ms Argillet, who spent her summers with Dalí in Spain, remembers him as a playful prankster.
“He once asked me to throw sweets at fishermen on the beach, but they turned out to be cherry bombs!” she recalls.
At one of his parties, Dalí even had a tortoise carrying an ashtray on its shell.
Despite his eccentric public persona, Ms Argillet describes Dalí as a shy, intuitive, and deeply observant man. “His shyness made him over-perform in public,” she says.
“There were many layers to Dalí, just like his paintings. The closer you look, the more you understand him.”
This rare exhibition offers Indian audiences a chance to peel back the layers of Dalí’s art and discover the genius behind the surrealist legend.
Also read: Magnus Carlsen Net Worth
