Dallas College Brookhaven has recently added another work of art to the campus for the community to enjoy in the A-Building – a piece by Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dalí.
While the piece only recently got displayed on campus, the abstract artwork, titled “Don Jose’s Final Appearance,” was donated to the college by the Dallas County Community College Foundation as a gift when it first opened in 1978.
“This decision was made long before the current gallery/collections team existed,” Gallery Coordinator Jarod Villalon said in an email to the Courier. “Dallas College and our students are very fortunate to have an original artwork by such a historically significant artist in their permanent art collection to use as a teaching tool.”
“Don Jose’s Final Appearance” is one piece of a larger project. According to Villalon, the art is part of a suite of 25 lithographs that Dalí produced from the late 1960s to the early 1970s.
Each lithograph print took inspiration from the four acts of the opera “Carmen” by French composer Georges Bizet. Villalon said that “Carmen” is a story of Don Jose, a soldier, and his pursuit of a woman named Carmen. This ends up being a fatal mistake for Carmen, however, due to Don Jose’s jealousy. Dalí was inspired by “Carmen” and created the pieces to illustrate the opera’s themes of desire, fate, obsession and love. “Don Jose is depicted with [the city of Seville trailing behind him, painted red, suggestive of the blood of Carmen, as bats fly in the background to symbolize death,” Villalon said.
Even before Dalí’s artwork was displayed, one could walk to practically any building on campus and see different pieces of art around the halls, primarily by students. “I always appreciated artworks from past students all over campus, so adding works from historical figures… is a great touch as well,” Dallas College student Jessica Martinez said. “Our campus has lots of abstract and surreal artworks, it could really be a running theme we have on campus. So why not add in painters like Dalí?”
According to Villalon, Dalí was most known for his strange, surrealist subject matter and exploration of imagery related to dreams and the unconscious. “He is one of the most celebrated artists of the modern era,” Villalon said.
Throughout the years, each Dallas College campus has been gifted artwork by significant contemporary artists. Villalon said that the goal of the College Foundation – and other donors – when donating these significant artworks is to create an elevated environment of higher learning. “They wanted our students to know that these new institutions would be and should be treated with as much regard and respect as the many surrounding universities in DFW,” Villalon said.
