Calling itself “the world's greatest museum of art and design,” the Victoria & Albert Museum houses 3,000 years’ worth of furniture, ceramics, glass, metalwork, textiles and more.
Until July 22, “Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design” examines the impact of the Surrealist movement on design.
Some 300 surreal objects are on display in a theatrical setting, including Salvador Dali’s pink satin lips sofa from 1938 that was created as an homage to Mae West’s mouth and Oscar Dominguez’s red upholstered 1937 wheelbarrow that seems strikingly modern in its juxtaposition of function and materials.
A Surrealist gift shop looks like somebody’s tricked out living room, with a wall of clever storage disguised as framed art -- containing television screens, bookshelves or a chalkboard -- that chasten the viewer about the importance of whimsy and the folly of taking design too seriously. “I try to create fantastic things, magical things, things like in a dream,” Dali once said. “The world needs more fantasy.”
- Kristin Hohenadel blogging from rue Vieille du Temple, Paris, France. She can be reached at kristin @ apartmenttherapy . com
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
I haven't seen the Dali lips sofa since Ozzy's "No More Tears" video.
view gmculp's profile
I do not think a Chihuly Chandelier belongs in this exhibit. His work is pure exhuberance in space manipulation without a tie to the real word, in a surreal fashion or not.
view Francesca's profile
Dearest Francesca:
The Chihuly piece is NOT in an exhibit, but hangs in a central rotundra .....It's been there for quite some time and is as magnificent there as any other space you could ever imagine.
It's one of maybe 5 tourists pics I took back in 2004. The scale is not shown here....it virtually fills the space and radiates the sun.
view hdtex's profile
re: "without a tie to the real word"
Um, isn't that partially what surrealism is about? :)
view patrick (the other one)'s profile
Fantastic!
More please.
We need a part deux.
view Alana in Canada's profile
I went there in March and it was fantastic. Among other exhibits, there was a Kylie Minogue exhibit and it was really interesting. The pieces of antiquity architecture they have in the great hall in the rear of the building is amazing. AND their gift shop is really terrific. They have a wall of very interesting and original postcards you can buy for about $1 a piece. Guaranteed no one will have one like it, unless they buy it from the V&A!
view wwoolsey's profile
Francesca, the Chihuly chandelier is not part of any exhibit. It is a permanent fixture in the entry hall of the V&A Museum. Imagine the Metropolitan Museum in NYC, it hangs over the main information desk. Nothing to do with any exhibit. It is BREATHTAKING in that museum. The colors of his creation contrast beautifully with the monochromatic stone walls of the museum...
view Anusha73's profile
There's a casino in Atlantic City (the Borgata, I think?) that has lots of those chandeliers hanging throughout and they are breathtaking. I had never seen them before and they were amazing to see in person, pictures really don't do them justice.
view bluestar's profile
I do love Chihuly's work and I have seen a lot of it. What I meant by the "without a tie to the real word" is that I do not see an intent from the artist to surrealistically or not suggest a real or mythological object. It has always seemed to me as a pure study of form, space and color, tied to the form, space and color of the destination place. And yes, his work is much more awe inspiring in person.
view Francesca's profile
Interesting, Francesca, but I almost always "see" sea life and organic life forms in his work. Maybe his SPECTACULAR swimming pool has colored my thinking about his work in general.
view patrick (the other one)'s profile
Very unimpressed by the surrealism exhibition, I'm afraid. I thought it was all a bit of a jumble. Not nearly as strong as the art deco and modernism shows that preceded it.
view nylon's profile