A "Surrealist" Passed through Istanbul... The exhibition of 385 works of the renowned artist Salvador Dalí was visited by 250,000 people in four months

A “Surrealist" Passed through Istanbul... The exhibition of 385 works of the renowned artist Salvador Dalí was visited by 250,000 people in four months

The Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) "A Surrealist in Istanbul: Salvador Dalí" exhibition has come to an end.

Akbank General Manager Zafer Kurtul announced in a written release that the exhibition under the sponsorship of Akbank at the SSM enjoyed nearly 250,000 visitors during four months from the four corners of Turkey. Kurtul expressed his pleasure at being one of the contributors to this encounter of art lovers with 385 of the works of an artist as different, dynamic, far-sighted and innovative in his era as Dalí.

Zafer Kurtul also announced that Akbank will continue in the near and distant future to support organizations and artistic endeavors that instill future generations with universal and innovative thought.

Sabancı University SSM Director Nazan Ölçer noted the difficulties involved in bringing to Istanbul the work of such a complicated representative of a movement like surrealism, which could be difficult for the ordinary viewer to understand.

It was for this reason that they insisted on the exhibition being a retrospective, said Ölçer, "Throughout the preparations for the exhibition, numerous times, together with Akbank, we visited the places where Dalí had lived. Each visit brought the discovery of a different facet of Dalí, and we were able to achieve a closer acquaintance with the work of this artist who captured the contemporary art of the 20th century. Our goal was to present to the Turkish public the real Dalí whom we had come to know."