Dali should have stayed back for Valentine’s 

​Salvador Dali’s ‘Argillet Collection’ show, at the Habitat Centre Delhi, would have been an ideal venue for a Valentine’s Date but sigh, now you have missed it. Dali was a Spanish surrealist artist known for his bizarre images.

It was an eye-popping collection of over 200 of his original sketches, etchings and watercolour paintings which included some very fine pieces bordering erotic art with human bodies squirting or sprouting flowers from their heads and thighs; eyeballs dancing in squiggles and strokes and body parts interacting animatedly with the world around them. ‘Stare for longer than a minute and these disconnected shapes begin to form new connections and meanings in the mind’s eye.’

This was the first time that a large body of Dali’s original works were exhibited in India, though two of his works are in the collection of Victoria Memorial, Calcutta. Here are two works (one is a section or detail) from the Delhi show. Sadly, lighting at the Visual Art Gallery was very poor. The show was still being mounted/dismounted.