DALÍ, LORCA AND THE RESIDENCIA DE ESTUDIANTES IN MADRID

From inspiration to indifference. How did the friendship between Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) and Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) influence their work? This new exhibition at CaixaForum Madrid presents a completely fresh look at the controversial relationship between the poet and playwright from Granada and the Catalan artist, set in the context of the Residencia de Estudiantes student residence in Madrid, a nerve-centre for Spanish culture in the first third of the 20th century. It was here that the two first met, in 1922, when both were on the brink of emerging as great artists.

The aim behind this show is to reconstruct the intellectual bonds that were forged between these two geniuses within the international context of the avant-garde movement, which both took as their cultural horizons. In line with this approach, the exhibition presents Cubism, Futurism, Purism, Objectivity and Surrealism as landmarks on a journey, emphasising three stages marked particularly by the changing intellectual and artistic points of reference that both Dalí and Lorca adopted. These stages also reflect the evolution of the friendship between the two during the eight years it lasted. All this is illustrated by documentary material that traces both their friendship and their artistic dialogue, along with outstanding works by both Dalí and Lorca and a selection of pieces by other artists, including Picasso, Derain, Cézanne, Le Corbusier, De Chirico, Miró and Ernst, turning this exhibition into a truly unique event.