Special Interview With
BENIAMINO LEVI
By Ida Salamon
BENIAMINO LEVI Special Interview on Art Market Magazine ©
“Dalí had the gift of irrational rationality!”
The collector and art dealer Beniamino Levi is considered to be a leading expert on the art of the eccentric surrealist Salvador Dalí. He has curated more than a hundred Dalí exhibitions worldwide and founded a spectacular Dalí museum on Montmartre in Paris. An interview on the 30th anniversary of Dalí’s death.
Salvador Dalí, 1965
© CC BY-SA 3.0
Beniamino Levi opened his first gallery in Milan in 1956 at the age of 28, bringing Joan Miró, René Magritte, André Masson, Wassily Kandinsky and Pablo Picasso to Italy. Especially through Kandinsky in particular, he learned to appreciate the abstract art, says the 91-year-old Grandseigneur:
“I did not know Kandinsky personally, but his wife. Once we met at the barber in Paris to authenticate one of her husband’s works of art. She was sitting under a dry hood!”
But Levis great love was and is Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), painter, graphic artist, sculptor, writer, stage designer – and one of the most important Surrealists. His images of melting clocks became as world-famous as his eccentric appearance. The love for his no less extravagant wife and muse Gala was reflected in many works. Already in the 1960s, Dalí worked with the art dealer and collector Beniamino Levi, who, after seeing some early sculptures, encouraged the Spanish artist to work three-dimensionally again. Levi produced the sculpture editions and built his unique collection. The exhibits of his collection, which he shows in his Dalí Museum on Paris Montmartre, are coveted loans worldwide.
Beniamino Levi & The Snail
© Dalí Universe
Art Market Magazine: How was your first meeting with Dalí, did you think it would be so important for your professional career?
Beniamino Levi: The first time I met Dalí was at the Maurice Hotel in Paris, where he used to live four months a year. It was an extraordinary encounter that went beyond any expectation. I was overwhelmed and fascinated, Dalí was extremely intelligent and would jump from one topic to another, he had the gift of irrational rationality!
Salvador Dalí. Surrealist Piano
Date: conceived in 1954, first cast in 1984
Height: 60 cm
Material: bronze
Technique: lost wax process
Edition size: 350 + 35 EA
Patina: black
Maquette: original drawing,”Surrealist Piano”, 1954
Descharnes References: Dalí: The Hard and the Soft, Sculptures & Objects. Eccart, 2004. pg. 250 ref. 643
© Dalí Universe
A.M: Did it not bother you that Dalí was a sympathizer of Franco and, even was considered a follower of Hitler?
B.L: I never talked about politics with Dalí, however he was not a sympathizer of Franco or a follower of Hitler, Dalí was more of a monarchic, he loved the King.
A.M: Dalí has often been described as egocentric and paranoid and has had rage outbursts, some of them you have experienced yourself when you interfered in the creation of a sculpture. His muse Gala had a calming effect on him. How was the relationship between the two of them?
B.L: Gala was Dalí’s muse through the most productive years of his artistic career. He often signed both his name and hers at the bottom of his paintings, reflecting the strength of their partnership. Gala was a frequent model for her husband, posing for sculptures and paintings. Gala also managed the business side of Dalí’s artistic career, handling all of the financial transactions associated with the sale of his work.
Salvador Dalí. Profile of time
Date: conceived in 1977, first cast in 1984
Height: 51 cm
Material: bronze
Technique: lost wax process
Edition size: 350 + 35 EA
Patina: green
Maquette: original gouache, “Profile of Time”, 1977
Descharnes References: Dalí: The Hard and the Soft, Sculptures & Objects. Eccart, 2004. pg. 238 ref. 615
© Dalí Universe
A.M: You were impressed how Dalí was talking about psychoanalysis, “one of the major discoveries of his life.” He was passionately interested in Sigmund Freud’s theories and even met him in London. Did he ever talk with you about it?
B.L: No, we never did talk about this topic, it was impossible to ask questions to Salvador Dalí, he just talked about whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted! However, Dalí considered dreams and imaginations central to human thought and was extremely interested in Freuds theories of accessing the subconscious for surreal and artistic inspiration.
A.M: You often find clocks, elephants, files, bread and eggs in pictures and sculptures of one of the most important surrealists. Looking at these melting clocks, you realize that Dalí was obsessed with the phenomenon of time. What fascinated him so deeply?
B.L: Dalinian time is not rigid; it is one with space… Fluid. The unexpected softness of the watch also represents the psychological fact that the speed of time, while precise in scientific use, is widely variable in human perception. When we are involved in pleasant activities or in work that absorbs all our attention, ‘time flies’, but when we are mired in boredom or discomfort, it drags. The limp watch no longer ‘keeps’ time; it does not measure its passage. Thus, the speed of our time depends only on us.
Salvador Dalí. Vision of the Angel.
Date: conceived in 1977, first cast in 1984
Height: 44 cm
Material: bronze
Technique: lost wax process
Edition size: 350 + 35 EA
Patina: green
Maquette: original gouache, “Vision of the Angel”, 1977
Descharnes References: Dalí: The Hard and the Soft, Sculptures & Objects. Eccart, 2004. pg. 240 ref. 617
© Dalí Universe
A.M: The Menorah Hashalom at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv was set up in 1998 after Dalí worked on it in 1981.
Do you know more about this project and did he do some other projects in Israel or for Jewish institutions?
B.L: The Menorah was originally a drawing, and Dalí gave permission to create the sculpture using the drawing as a basis. An exemplaire of the same sculpture is part of my collection. Dalí also illustrated the book entitled Twelve Tribes of Israel for the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the State of Israel.
The evolution of these tribes through their descendants resulted in the creation of the Israeli state, which Dalí viewed as a historical development with surrealistic overtones. It was this aspect that attracted Dalí to portray the first Israelites. Abba Eban, Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister, said “Whether for their ambiguity or ambivalence, these portraits hold a definite significance for us through his abundant and diverse imagination, Dalí in this album helps to immortalize the Israeli civilization at the beginning, to realize the mystical character of its existence and of its development”.
Menorah Hashalom at the Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv
© CC BY-SA 3.0
A.M: Thirty years ago Salvador Dalí died and was buried in the crypt under the glass dome of the “Teatre-Museu Dalí”. Two years later you opened the Dalí Paris on Montmartre, with about 300 original pieces of art and most of the Dali sculptures in the world. You have the copyright for these works. How did you manage to achieve that and to bring so many sculptures in your museum?
B.L: Everything started when I purchased two small Dalí sculptures which I then exhibited at a New York Art Fair. The public was interested in the sculptures, but the attention was drawn to the vast number of Dalí paintings. I decided to try and convince Dalí to create other sculptures, with the help of his wife Gala who had a very strong influence on him and there was also a very profound love between them. This is how I became the editor of 29 Dalí sculptures. At the same time I started collecting his three dimensional artworks and to find them I travelled all over the world. Today the collection I have assembled is one of the largest in the whole world, and it is continuously enriched with new pieces that I search for and acquire.
Read the Full Interview on Art Market Magazine Issue #44
