Dali Planet #126:
Rockin’ with Billy Rose
A fire in the mid-1950s at the home of celebrated American theatre impressario Billy Rose destroyed a series of paintings called “The Seven Lively Arts” that Dali had given him in 1944. Like Dali, Rose had put on a show at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, “Billy Rose’s Aquacade”, and they became friends. Dali promptly replaced the torched art with another series of seven, including this one, “Rock ‘n’ Roll” (sometimes referred to as “The Dance”), a cultural leap forward from its predecessor, “Boogie Woogie”.
Rose — who until 1955 had been the owner-operator of the Ziegfeld Theatre, which stood at Sixth Avenue and 54th Street — wasn’t known to be a fan of the new music, but Dali in ‘56 was in the process of launching his first perfume, also called “Rock ‘n’ Roll”. “I love anything that is dionysic, violent and aphrodisiac,” he said of rock music. The photo shows him strolling with Gala in Cadaques in 1958.
