Dali painting not seen since 1944 highlights 'La Verita' circus show in Montreal

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A 8 x 15 metre painting of Spanish artist Salvadore Dali is unveiled Monday, November 5, 2012 in Montreal. The painting that was created by Dali in New York in 1944 and has never been shown since, will be used in director Daniele Finzi Pasca's circus production of La Verita which will open in Montreal in January. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

MONTREAL - A massive Salvador Dali painting that hasn't been seen in public since 1944 took centre stage at Place des arts on Monday as it was unveiled as the backdrop for a new circus show.

The giant canvas, which measures about nine metres by 15 metres and filled the back wall of the stage, will be a key part of "La Verita," which will be performed in January by the Switzerland-based Company Finzi Pasca.

"It's very exciting," said director Daniele Finzi Pasca as he stood on the Place des arts stage with the visually arresting painting looming behind him.

The stage curtain was originally created by the surrealist master for the ballet "Mad Tristan" put on by New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1944 and has since resided in a private European art collection.

"Mad Tristan" was inspired by Richard Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" and art expert Jennifer Whisper explained that Dali focused on that opera's closing moments, when Tristan dies and is found by Isolde.

The painting is pure Dali. One of the figures has a dandelion head. A wheelbarrow sprouts from the other's back like wings.

The sexually ambiguous figures lie on a desolate landscape flanked by red crutches that don't support anything, and a tiny figure sits on a shoulder. Ants scamper from a crack in one body and long shadows play across the scene. One figure robed in blue reaches out for the other with exaggerated hands.

The owners of the painting — who remain anonymous — contacted Finzi Pasca in December 2010 as he and partner Julie Hamelin were brainstorming ideas for a new show.

"The foundation decided not to put it in a museum," Finzi Pasca said in an interview. "They preferred to come back with this backdrop to the theatre. We accepted the challenge and the invitation because it was exactly an element that can help us tell the story that we had in mind."

The show, which had begun taking shape as an exploration of dreams and ideas, soon coalesced around the Dali.

"Working with the surrealism gives the opportunity to explore these ideas, to create strange images," Finzi Pasca said of the show, which will include the company's trademark acrobatics as well as theatre. "It's a show that's funny and also moving and touching."

Hamelin, who also co-founded Montreal's acclaimed Cirque Eloize, said the painting's owners sought out Finzi Pasca because they had been impressed with his previous work, which include shows with Cirque du Soleil and Cirque Eloize as well as choreographing the closing ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

"They loved the way that he was staging his performances and they said basically, 'You have complete freedom to use this backdrop as you wish in the show,'" said Hamelin, the show's creative director.

Hamelin said it seemed predestined for Finzi Pasca to be involved with Dali.

"Both talk about and represent the world of dreams on stage," she said.

Finzi Pasca seemed to regard the painting as another member of the show's cast.

"I work in general with extraordinary actors so I am used to working with precious things," he said with a smile. "It isn't so different."

But is he a Dali fan? Yes, he likes him, for sure.

"But I am more touched by Chagall."