Salvador Dalí exhibition at Pumapungo Museum will be one of Cuenca’s biggest

Works by one of the 20^th century’s iconic artists, the Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí, will go on public display Friday, July 12 at the Pumapungo Museum.

Pumapungo Museum staff hold one of the Salvador Dali works to be exhibited.

Pumapungo’s director of contemporary art, Juliana Vega, said the exhibition, the first major display of Dalí’s work in Ecuador, is an important stepping stone for establishing Pumapungo as a major venue for top international artwork. “The exhibit has been in the works for several months and we are thrilled that it has finally come together,” she said, adding that exhibition was arranged through an agreement with Ecuador’s Ministry of Culture and Spanish embassy in Quito.

The exhibit includes two series of original Dalí lithographs, “The capricious dreams of Pantagruel” and “The Gala dinners.” According to Vega, the 37 prints in the two series represent the artist’s rebellious and contrarian view of life and art, displaying his famous distaste for politics, religion and high culture. “The allusions to such themes as cannibalism, death and religious fraud will be prominent in the exhibit,” she says.

Master printmaker Lanner Diaz.

Vega and museum director Tamara Landívar plan to use the exhibit to showcase the art of printmaking. “Engraving has played a major role in the art of recent centuries, as shown so powerfully by Dalí, and we hope to provide training to local artists in the process and are offering free workshops to those who are interested.

The museum has enlisted Cuban-born master printmaker Lanner Díaz to teach workshops in the craft. Díaz, an art instructor at local universities, will offer two series of two-hour classes to artists 12 years and older. Those interested in signing up can phone the museum at 098 518 1786 or go by the La Salita museum shop.