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Salvador Dali painted the ballet curtain for the 1943 production of 'Labyrinth.' Philippe Halsmann photographed Dali in 1959. Image courtesy of Galerie Bassenge and Live Auctioneers archive.

Pittsburgh museum hopes to hang Dali ballet curtain

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf

Salvador Dali painted the ballet curtain for the 1943 production of 'Labyrinth.' Philippe Halsmann photographed Dali in 1959. Image courtesy of Galerie Bassenge and LiveAuctioneers archive.
Salvador Dali painted the ballet curtain for the 1943 production of ‘Labyrinth.’ Philippe Halsmann photographed Dali in 1959. Image courtesy of Galerie Bassenge and LiveAuctioneers archive.
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Officials at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh want to display a ballet curtain designed by Salvador Dali that has been in storage since it was donated to the museum 33 years ago.

The curtain is more than 26 feet high and more than 49 feet wide. It depicts a struggle between the mythological characters the Minotaur and Theseus. Dali painted it for the 1942 production of Labyrinth, based on the myth of Theseus, that was performed at the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo.

The black oil painting is on beige canvas. Museum officials unfurled it for the first time since it was donated in 1976 on Monday, so it could be photographed. Museum officials want to evaluate the curtain’s condition and figure out where and how to display it.

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Information from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
http://www.post-gazette.com

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AP-ES-12-29-09 1051EST