Salvador Dalí created his reputation as the master of Surrealism in Europe before the Second World War. Thereafter, he was an artist and dandy known to everyone, who effectively alienated himself from the purists of the world of culture.

He painted portraits of the upper class, he was a celebrity familiar from newspapers and television, and he sailed from one scandal to the next. André Breton described the Dalí of world repute as a man who only heard the creaking of his patent-leather shoes. At the same time, however, Dalí opened his art in surprising directions. He was at times interested in the natural sciences, at times in the Catholic faith, classical historical painting or theatre, and he was a devoted illustrator. The artist’s reputation has been blemished by numerous forgeries, although this did not appear to particularly bother Dalí himself.

In the 1970s, he published one of the master works of his late output, the Surrealist cook book Les dîners de Gala. Dalí’s Gala is an installation, based on this book, comprising works of the artist’s late output. It is a delightful tribute to Salvador Dalí, whose life and art cannot be separated. The exhibition is curated by Pauli Sivonen and Tarja Väätänen.