A World of Nonsense: Diaghilev and Dali

Salvador Dali, the great master of ludicrous, Surrealist nonsense was a huge admirer of dance. Dali began designing sets and costumes for the Ballets Russes in the late 1930s, around 10 years after the death of its original founder, Sergei Diaghilev, so sadly the pair never officially worked together. But Diaghilev’s formidable shadow still loomed…

Andre Derain was the the great Fauvist painter who liberated colour, setting it free across his canvases with great swipes, streaks and slashes of unmixed paint. But there is another, less well-known side to Derain; from the 1920s to the 1950s he also turned his talents to the ballet, envisioning impossibly sumptuous sets and costumes…

Russian radical Mikhail Larionov is perhaps best-known as the rebellious young artist who galvanised 20th century abstraction in Russia. But in his later years, he went through a dramatic transformation, reinventing himself as a set and costume designer for the European stage. It was Larionov’s close friendship with Ballets Russes director Sergei Diaghilev that made…

Italian painter Giorgio de Chirico and ballet director Sergei Diaghilev only worked together on one Ballets Russes production, but their union would prove momentous and life-changing for both. Their collaboration was significant for Diaghilev because it was the last production he would produce before his death later that same year. It was also important for…

Russian-French artist Sonia Delaunay was one of the world’s greatest polymaths, spanning a huge range of disciplines from painting to textiles, fashion, costume and set design. Her whirlwind patterns and colours attracted the attention of the great ballet director Sergei Diaghilev in the early 20th century, and it was he who first encouraged her to delve…