WORLD EXCLUSIVE! DALI'S 'CELESTIAL RIDE' IS REALLY A 'SEVEN LIVELY ARTS' UPDATE . . .

 A Case of Mistaken Identity

The Dali painting commonly referred to as "Celestial Ride" -- and which authorities have called "Sports" as part of the Billy Rose Seven Lively Arts series of Dali paintings -- is actually Dali's newer version of the original painting called "Radio."

Let me try to briefly explain . . .

In 1944 Dali was commissioned by Broadway impresario Billy Rose to paint his vision of the Seven Lively Arts for Rose's revue at his Ziegfeld Theater in New York City. One of the works was titled "Radio," and this is what it looked like, shown here in Rose's Mt. Kisco, N.Y. estate:

 After being on display at the theater for 10 years, the seven fantastic canvases were moved to Rose's mansion, but were destroyed in a tragic fire there. With the insurance money, Rose paid Dali to re-paint the 7-piece series -- but now it was 12 years later.

When it came to re-painting "radio" as a lively art, it was realized that television was a prominently emerging medium. So in re-painting the work called "Radio," Dali presented a rhinoceros on skyscraper-tall stork legs -- with a TV telecast of a baseball game (in black & white, of course) on its flank! A TV or telecommunications-style building is seen at lower right.

 But notice as well that in the lower left distance we see, again, a man at a tall microphone, similar to the figures in the original "Radio" Dali created in '44. Only now radio shares the spotlight with television, reflecting the updated, 12-years-later era.

To call this work "Sports" as part of Dali's Seven Lively Arts series seems ridiculous to me. Sports was never part of the original seven arts Dali illustrated. And sports simply doesn't fit the notion of arts, as do the others: theater, dance, music, cinema, ballet, opera.

It's therefore my firm belief that this painting -- which somehow became known as "Celestial Ride" -- is actually Dali's re-born version of the "Radio" painting that was part of his original and magnificent Seven Lively Arts series for Billy Rose.