Conservators work on Salvador Dali's painting "The Discover of America by Christopher Columbus"

Stripped Bare + Bathed: The Preservation of Dalí’s Masterworks.

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June 1, 2012 – September 1, 2012

This exhibition demonstrated the museum’s mission to “preserve the art of Dali.” Preservation is a continuous, labor-intensive process involving the care of works of art in all media: oils, works on paper, and objects. Over the past decade the museum has conserved 25 of its 96 oil paintings.

From June 11-22, a team of eight conservators clean and re-stretch four of the museum’s eight Masterworks: The Discovery of America, (1959); The Ecumenical Council, (1960); Galacidalacidesoxiribunucleicacid (1963); and The Hallucinogenic Toreador (1970). A live video feed records and broadcasts the work in this gallery during the two-week live phase, and a conservator answers questions in the gallery at 3 PM.

From June 23-September 9, a video documentary of the cleaning and conservation of our great paintings is projected in the gallery, providing visitors with detailed commentary and close-up views of the painstaking process.

The project is funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and was further supported by a group of private donors – the Keepers of the Masterworks – who gave generously to assist with this vital process.