Dali Planet #134: The Louvre in 3D
In 1964 Dali became the first well-known artist to explore the use of the third dimension beyond sculpture and the mere waves of thick pigment, beginning when he purchased in New York plastic panels consisting of fine embossed cells. The “moire” pattern reminded him of insects’ eyes, and he quickly incorporated it into several paintings, such as “Laocoon Tormented by Flies”.
In 1970 he studied the stereoscopic work of the Dutch master Gerard Dow (1613-75) at the Louvre, which involved using angled and distorted mirrors to achieve clarity. Dali first used the technique in making engravings for his book “Ten Recipes for Immortality”, then created three-dimensional images that several people could view at the same time using special lenses.
When Dennis Gabor of Hungary won the 1971 Nobel Physics Prize for inventing holography, Dali immediately saw its promise in art. He tapped Gabor’s wisdom to produce three works for an exhibition at the Knoedler Gallery in New York in the spring of ‘72, commenting in the catalogue that Gabor’s genius had stolen the magic of Velasquez’s three-dimensional vision from Picasso’s cubism. “Holography has made possible an art renaissance, and before me the doors of a new era of creativity have opened.”
