Salvador Dalí’s

Stairway to Heaven

December 19, 2019 - May 21, 2020

William and Anna Jane Schlossman Gallery

Your art museum is excited to present Salvador Dalí’s Stairway to Heaven—the first major Salvador Dalí exhibition in North Dakota. Known as one of 20th Century’s foremost masters of Surrealism, Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) has ignited the imagination of international viewers and artists for decades. Salvador Dalí’s Stairway to Heaven portrays 143 works on paper in a comparative study of two of Dalí’s most celebrated portfolios: his book illustrations for the Comte de Lautréamont’s Les Chants de Maldoror (The Songs of Maldoror, originally published in 1868-69) and Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy (originally published 1320). Together, they express a progression in Dalí’s personal life in which he ultimately returns to order, reason and tradition, and presents his un-paralleled grandiose creativity.

This traveling exhibition is curated by David S. Rubin and organized by the Carole Sorell Inc. with generous support from the Park West Foundation. David S. Rubin is a Los Angeles-based curator, art critic, author and artist who has been in the contemporary art field for more than forty years. Rubin served in curatorial roles at Antonio Museum of Art, New Orleans’ Contemporary Arts Center, Phoenix Art Museum, MOCA Cleveland, San Francisco Art Institute and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and holds a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles and an M.A. in Art History from Harvard University. Rubin is currently listed in Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in American Art, and his curatorial archives are housed in the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art.

A fully illustrated catalog with an essay by David S. Rubin accompanies the exhibition, as well as “Dalí–Illustrator,” a 407-page hardcover book by Eduard Fornés. Salvador Dali’s Stairway to Heaven also visits Hilliard Museum, Lafayette, LA; the Bradbury Art Museum, Jonesboro, Arkansas; Oglethorpe University Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; University of Texas at San Antonio Main Art Gallery, San Antonio, Texas; Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, Indiana; Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art, Shawnee, Oklahoma; and Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover, Delaware.

This traveling exhibition is curated by David S. Rubin and organized by the Carole Sorell Inc. with generous support from the Park West Foundation. David S. Rubin is a Los Angeles-based curator, art critic, and artist who has been in the contemporary art field for more than forty years and is the former Curator of Visual Arts at the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans. A fully illustrated catalog with an essay by David S. Rubin accompanies the exhibition, as well as “Dalí–Illustrator,” a 407-page hardcover book by Eduard Fornés.

Les Chants de Maldoror, 1934
Collection of Park West Gallery, Southfield, Michigan

The Divine Comedy, 1960
Collection of Park West Gallery, Southfield, Michigan

Ongoing Exhibitions

S.P.A.C.E. 2024-2026

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S.P.A.C.E. 2024-2026

The S.P.A.C.E. (Sculpture Pad Art Collaborative Experiment) project is a public art initiative led by Plains Art Museum in collaboration with NDSU, MSUM, and Concordia College. Sculptures are displayed for two years.

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No Time For Despair

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No Time For Despair

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Bee in Flight

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Bee in Flight

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Fragile Preservation

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Fragile Preservation
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