The Cultural Work of the Universidad Europea del Atlántico (European Atlantic University) (UNEATLANTICO), in collaboration with the Universidade Internacional do Cuanza (UNIC), the Embassy of Spain in Angola, the transport company AJS, the Casa das Artes de Talatona and under the sponsorship of ENSA Seguros de Angola, inaugurated on July 10 the exhibition of engravings «La Conquista del Cosmos» by the artist Salvador Dalí at the Casa das Artes de Talatona in Luanda (Angola).
After a short aperitif to refresh and welcome the guests, and once inside the auditorium, the Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of Spain, Mr. Antonio Santamaría, thanked all the contributors and sponsors and praised the role of the Spanish Embassy in its cultural promotion function. Then, Dr. Carlos Roberto Jelvez Martinez, rector of the Universidade Internacional do Cuanza (UNIC) spoke about the cultural work of the Obra Cultural, which is represented in Angola (Cuito – Bié) through the UNIC.
Thanks to the collaboration of the Spanish Cooperation within its cultural promotion programs with Angola, the public could also enjoy a fragment of the dance piece «IEZU!» performed by Aneth Silva’s company.
The engraving collection «The Conquest of the Cosmos» consists of eleven dry-pointed engravings, all signed and numbered in pencil. Two sketches and an original poster from the 1974 exhibition are also included. This collection is considered one of the most important works of Salvador Dalí’s career. Each of the works that make up the series represents a surreal picture of the cosmos, including planets, galaxies and stars, along with other elements of Dalí’s imagination (ants, elephants, soft clocks, etc.).
Dalí himself, born in Figueres (Spain) in 1904, claimed that the only difference between him and a madman was that he was not mad. He used his surrealist method (paranoid-critical method) and his theory of the supersign, in which at first sight the work looks like a figure, but when it is looked again, other absolutely different and unexpected figures appear. For Dalí, the universe was also a manifestation of the subconscious, as if the cosmos were only an extension of the inner world of the human being. In this collection, art and science are intertwined.
During the exhibition of the works, which will be available between 11 and 26 July, the Casa das Artes de Talatona will offer guided tours, conducted by an expert in Dalí’s work, Ms. Isilda Alves Coelho.
For about a year, the pieces will also be exhibited in the provinces of Huila, Bié, Huambo, Benguela, Namibe and finally in Luanda, where they will be closed, allowing Angolans to enjoy for the first time these works belonging to such a universal artist.