Salvador Dalí sculpture on free display at Fairmont Hotel Vancouver

A monumental bronze sculpture of a melting clock by infamous artist Salvador Dalí is on display for free at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver.

Dalí’s Dance of Time 1, a seven-foot-tall sculpture valued at $750,000, will remain on display in the hotel lobby at Hornby and Georgia streets until the end of November.

In a release, general manager Michael Pye said he was delighted to showcase the sculpture for all guests and visitors to enjoy.

“Fairmont Hotel Vancouver is centrally located in the city, and is a destination point for many visitors,” said Pye. “It seems fitting that Dali’s surreal Dance of Time l sculpture is displayed in our lobby.”

Dance of Time l in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (Fairmont Hotels)

The sculpture was brought to Canada by the Chali-Rosso Art Gallery, Vancouver’s largest private gallery of European Modern Master collections.

In turn, the Dalí sculpture is on loan to them from The Stratton Institute, the world’s largest collection of Dalí’s monumental sculptures, in Switzerland.

‘Dalí really pushed boundaries’

Speaking to Daily Hive previously, gallery owner Susanna Strem said Dalí had a unique surrealist persona.

“Dalí was maybe one of the only artists who was so much at one with his art,” said Strem.

“Dalí really pushed boundaries into the extreme, taking symbolism, more expressively representing the dream world, the subconscious world. He really put it out there.”

The public display is part of a project titled Definitely Dalí, which will collect public donations and a portion of gallery sales for the Arts Umbrella‘s youth education centre.

In return, the Chali-Rosso gallery is displaying 100 extra original Dalí artworks at their Howe Street location, including 20 gallery size sculptures.

Since Dance of Time I arrived in Vancouver, it has been displayed on the street at West Hastings and Hornby streets, and in Oakridge Centre shopping mall.

See also

• Salvador Dalí free exhibition at the Oakridge Centre in Vancouver (PHOTOS)
• Salvador Dalí sculpture to go on public display in Vancouver

However, the sculpture’s display in the Fairmont marks your last chance to enjoy the artwork in person before it returns to Switzerland.

Strem told Daily Hive she thinks art should always be around us, because art is about understanding ourselves.

“These are big words, but this is it,” she said. “If an artwork talks to somebody, then it will enhance their life.”

“It will change something – even a small fraction or a bigger understanding of what I am.”

And of course, art – especially Dalí’s sculpture – is fun too.

“He’s good. He’s really good,” laughs Strem.

“Enjoy it – it’s not work, that you have to un-work and understand, it’s Dalí…It came out in expression, and we’re on the receiving end!”

Dalí’s Dance of Time I at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver

When: Until Thursday, November 30, 2017

Time: 24 hours a day, seven days a week

Where: In the lobby at Fairmont Hotel Vancouver – 900 West Georgia Street, Vancouver