A Taste of Surrealism in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Summary

Specially for the exhibition Mad About Surrealism, four of Rotterdam’s top chefs have taken inspiration from Salvador Dalí’s cookbook Les dîners de Gala. On Wednesday 27 March 2017, Erik van Loo, Fred Mustert, Gert Blom and Mario Ridder (who have six Michelin stars between them) will serve an exclusive four-course dinner in the museum’s restaurant, The Pavilion.

Heaven and Earth

During this special evening, each of the four chefs will serve a single course, paired with an appropriate wine. The guests will sit down to dinner at 7.30 p.m. The starter will be prepared by Gert Blom from Restaurant Amarone (one Michelin star). Erik van Loo from Parkheuvel (two Michelin stars) will then serve the entremets entitled ‘Heaven and Earth’. Fred Mustert of FRED (two Michelin stars) is responsible for the main course and the dinner will conclude with a sur-prising dessert created by Mario Ridder from Restaurant Joelia (one Michelin star).

Mad About Surrealism

Tickets for A Taste of Surrealism cost €199.99 per person and can be booked online at boijmans.nl. Places are limited to 160. Prior to the dinner, the guests will be treated to a special private view of the exhibition Mad About Surrealism from 5.30 p.m. with guides who will provide introductions to masterpieces by Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, René Magritte and Joan Miró, among others. Featuring more than 300 artworks, rare books and archival pieces, Mad About Surreal-ism (11 February to 28 May 2017) provides an unrivalled survey of the Surrealist movement. It brings together for the first time works from four European private collections. Three were amassed by eccentric British patrons: Edward James (1907-1984), Gabrielle Keiller (1908-1996) and Roland Penrose (1900-1984). The fourth collection has been assembled by the German couple Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch. This international touring exhibition has been curated in partnership with the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh and the Hamburger Kunsthalle.

Surrealism on the menu

During the course of the exhibition, Amarone, FRED, Joelia and Parkheuvel will be serving special Surrealist dishes or menus. Other restaurants in Rotterdam, such as In de keuken van Floris will also present Surrealist dishes. Erik van Loo: ‘Dalí is a great source of inspiration. His cookbook has a prominent place in my restaurant Parkheuvel.’

Cookery classes with Salvador Dalí

Les dîners de Gala, Salvador Dalí’s cookbook dedicated to his wife and muse Gala, was origi-nally published in French in 1973. Taschen issued the first English edition in the autumn of 2016. The dishes are designed primarily with the sensual pleasure of eating in mind. Some of the recipes were created by legendary French restaurants such as Lasserre, Maxim’s and Le Train Bleu. Great attention has been given to the visual appeal of the dishes for, as Dalí himself said, ‘a well-presented woodcock has the perfection of a painting by Raphael’. Les dîners de Gala (Taschen via Librero), 320 pages, price €49.99, is available in the museum shop.