Dalí and Fashion, at the Royal Palace of Milano over 200 works tell the story of the surrealist genius between art and style

Palazzo Reale inaugurates the exhibition “Dalí and Fashion”

Milano opens the new exhibition season at Palazzo Reale with a major international project dedicated to one of the absolute protagonists of the twentieth century. From September 24, 2026 to January 31, 2027 the exhibition will be open to visitors “Dalí and Fashion”, an original path that explores the relationship between Salvador Dalí and the world of fashion, analyzing how the surrealist artist used clothes, accessories and public image as tools of artistic expression.

The exhibition, inaugurated on the occasion of the Milano Fashion Week, born from the collaboration between the City of Milano - Culture, Palazzo Reale, MondoMostre and Civita Mostre e Musei, together with the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture, the Spanish Embassy in Italy, and the National Chamber of Italian Fashion.

Over 200 works including paintings, clothes and jewels

The exhibition brings together over 200 works and documents , including paintings, drawings, photographs, clothing, jewelry, accessories, objects and films, many of which have never before been presented in Italy.

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The works come from the major collections dedicated to the artist, including the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí in Figueres , the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid . These are complemented by materials from the historical archives of major fashion houses such as Schiaparelli, Chanel, Dior, and Rabanne.

The exhibition's signature image is the painting “Three Young Surrealist Women Holding the Skins of an Orchestra in Their Arms” , displayed together with famous jewels created by Dalí in 1949, including “The Eye of Time” and “Ruby Lips”.

A total artist between surrealism, fashion and identity construction

The exhibition offers a new reading of Dalí's work, demonstrating how for the artist, fashion was not simply an aesthetic element, but a true tool for building identity, transforming the body, and communicating through images and symbols.

“There is no Dalí the artist and a Dalí the stylist, only a total artist capable of leaving his mark wherever he could,” explained the director of the Dalí Museums, Montse Aguer, and the curator, Laura Bartolomé.

From childhood, clothing was a means for Dalí to define his image. With the arrival of Gala in his life in 1929, clothes and accessories became part of a shared language through which the couple constructed their public image.

The dialogue with Schiaparelli, Chanel and Dior

One of the central moments in the relationship between Dalí and fashion began in 1936 , when the artist collaborated with Elsa Schiaparelli to create a window display for the Bonwit Teller department store in New York.

From that moment on, her imagination entered the world of fashion through clothing, accessories, jewelry, theatrical costumes, fabrics, and advertising campaigns. Clothing became a means to alter the perception of the body, introducing ironic, sensual, and surprising elements.

Among the most famous episodes recounted in the exhibition is his collaboration with Coco Chanel on the 1939 show “Bacchanale,” a production of the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo for which Dalí designed the sets and libretto while Chanel contributed to the costumes.

Another significant moment was the 1951 Bal Oriental held at Palazzo Labia in Venice, where Dalí, Gala, Christian Dior and other cultural figures of the time participated with costumes designed by Dalí and Dior.

The body as a work of art

One of the common threads of the exhibition is the relationship between body and transformation , a central theme of both surrealism and fashion.

In Dalí's works, eyes, lips, hands, and other anatomical parts are isolated and recomposed into new symbolic forms. The body thus becomes an element to be reinvented, just as happens in the creation of a dress.

The same research emerges in the jewels designed by the artist starting in 1949, exhibited for the first time in Italy after their acquisition by the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí in 1999.

From performances to contemporary stylists

In the 1960s, fashion became a permanent fixture in Dalí's artistic performances. Between 1966 and 1969, in Portlligat, Cadaqués, Barcelona, ​​and Paris, the artist involved models and performers in his creations, including through the clothing of Paco Rabanne.

In these experiences, painting, body, entertainment, and fashion merge into a single expressive form, anticipating many experiments in contemporary art and international catwalks.

The exhibition also highlights how Dalí's legacy continues to influence designers, creative directors, photographers, and artists today, thanks to his ability to transform fashion into a cultural language.

Palazzo Reale tells the story of a meeting between art and fashion.

“Dalí and Fashion” paints a portrait of an artist capable of transcending the boundaries between different disciplines, anticipating the role of fashion as a tool for producing images, identities, and mass culture.

The exhibition is accompanied by a volume published by Skira Editore and produced with the contribution of several institutional and technical partners.