2010-2011
Selections From the de la Cruz Collection
“Rosa and I are very happy to have my mother’s portrait by Salvador Dali as part of this year’s exhibition. Dali painted this portrait in 1955 when mother was living in New York City. The artist visited her several times and made sketches while they talked casually. Even though she never posed, he captured her expression and personality. After staying for a short time at mother’s New York apartment, the painting was hung at my grandmother, Isabel Falla de Suero’s home in Havana, where we all lived. The family painting was commissioned to be in this house, which was designed by Carrère and Hastings in the 1920s. When our family left Cuba as exiles in 1960, the portrait was installed in our New York apartment. Later, mother took it to her home in Madrid, where it remained until the end of her life. This portrait has been in our family for more than half a century.”
Carlos M. de la Cruz
December 2010
The portrait by Salvador Dali of Dolores Suero Falla, Carlos de la Cruz’s mother, was the inspiration for our 2010-2011 exhibition. Anchored in Surrealism, and covering a broad stylistic and conceptual range, this year’s exhibition will try to establish a dialogue between Dali’s portrait and a selection of contemporary works from the de la Cruz Collection. This beautiful painting of Lolo, as she was familiarly called, is a timeless portrait and continues to be very much a part of our contemporary time, and is viewed today as an example of Dali’s audacity and vision.