This award-winning documentary is the Holy Grail for Dali aficionados who’ve long lamented that too many examinations of the Surrealist artist’s life and work focus on the clown and not the craftsman.

Salvador Dali carved out a reputation that was arguably as eclectic as his paintings: eccentric, exhibitionist, genius, showman, author, agent provocateur and – oh yes – the most successful surrealist painter in history.
But The Dali Dimension: Decoding the Mind of a Genius (2004) brings into focus another appellation befitting the Catalan master: man of science.

Even the esteemed J.D. Watson – who together with Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA and assured themselves hallowed ground on the landscape of 20th century science – sent a letter to Dali, declaring, “The second brightest man in the world wishes to meet the brightest.”

It’s just one of a veritable feast of delectable morsels that make this 75-minute film by Joan Ubeda, Susi Marques and Eli Pons a refreshing change from the predictably linear biographical approaches other documentary makers have taken. And as the film’s subtitle hints, this treatment shines a light on the scientific underpinnings of Dali’s works and the innovative mind that created them.

Narrated by Joseph Nuzzolo, president of The Salvador Dali Society (www.dalinet.com), which has the film’s exclusive North American distribution rights, the story is wrapped in a kind of musical package, with the sound and sights of violins and cellos adding an appropriate metaphorical note to what is as much an auditory as a visual experience.

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