Opening: Dali Illustrates Dante's Divine Comedy September 7, 2007

The works of Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali will be featured at the Las Cruces Museum of Art with an exhibition of 100 wood-block prints produced by Salvador Dali to illustrate Dante Alighieris literary masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, from Friday, Sept. 7 through Sunday, Nov. 25.

The exhibition, Dali Illustrates Dantes Divine Comedy, opens on Friday, Sept. 7 from 5 10 pm. The opening night of the exhibit will coincide with the Dona Ana Arts Councils ArtsHop. Tickets purchased for ArtsHop will be honored for admission to the Dali exhibition on that date only. For the remainder of the exhibition, admission is $5 for adults; it is free for those aged 18 and under. Group rates are available upon request.

Exhibition hours are Tuesday through Thursday, 10 am 5 pm; Friday, 10 am 7 pm; Saturday, 10 am 5 pm; Sunday, 1 5 pm; closed Monday.

The Museum of Art will present a series of events related to the Dali exhibition. There is no admission fee for events held at the Branigan Cultural Center. The Dali admission fee covers musical performances held at the Museum of Art. Events include:

Lecture on poet Dante Alighieri and the Writing of the Divine Comedy by Dr. Elizabeth Schirmer, English Department, NMSU - Saturday, Sept. 22, 11 am, in the Branigan Cultural Centers Shannon Room. Seating is limited and on a first come first serve basis.

Performance of Modern Classical avant garde music by the Las Cruces Friends of Chamber Music, Saturday, Sept. 29, 1 pm., Museum of Art

Talk on Personal Experiences with Salvador Dali by Mireille Dohmen, modern art galleries manager, Antwerp, Belgium Saturday, Oct. 20, 11 am, Branigan Cultural Centers Shannon Room. Seating is limited and on a first come first serve basis.

Performance of Modern Classical avant garde music by the Las Cruces Friends of Chamber Music, Saturday, Oct. 27, 1 pm., Museum of Art

Lecture by Bernard Ewell, Art Appraiser, Santa Fe, NM and Dali expert Saturday, Nov. 3, 11 am, Branigan Cultural Centers Shannon Room. Seating is limited and on a first come first serve basis.

Performance of Modern Classical avant garde music by the Las Cruces Friends of Chamber Music, Saturday, Nov. 24, 1 pm, Museum of Art

Dali, famous for such works as The Persistence of Memory with unforgettable melting clocks, said he had dreamed of illustrating Dantes masterpiece. He worked for nine years on the original watercolor renditions for the project, that he considered one of the most important of his career and an artistic testament. The entire print suite, loaned to the museum by a local collector, illustrates the 100 cantos, or verses, of Dantes allegorical journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. To create prints from the original paintings, two artisans worked for three years to carve 3,500 wood blocks, as each individual image required approximately 35 separate blocks to capture its detail and color. The suite on loan to the Museum was published in 1964.

The Las Cruces Museum of Art is located at 491 North Main Street (north end of Main Street Downtown.) For more information, call (505) 541-2137 or go to the website at www.museums.las-cruces.org.

Event submitted by Eventful.com on behalf of lcms.