Dali: The Paintings (Hardcover)

by Robert Descharnes (Editor), Gilles Neret (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Product Details

• Hardcover: 780 pages
• Publisher: Benedikt Taschen Verlag (May 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3822882631
• ISBN-13: 978-3822882634
• Product Dimensions: 12.8 x 9.9 x 2.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,334,228 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive, but of inferior quality., January 14, 2001

By	Walter O. Koenig "Amoxtli" (San Diego, California, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I saw this well-priced Book which was originally published in two volumes, at higher cost with a slip cover, I had to have it. I am a collector of Dali Books and was hoping that this Book would be the Catalogue Raisonne of Dali's paintings I had been looking for for so long. In this respect the Book was no disappointment with a total of 1,648 illustrations, but a closer look at the book revealed some serious faults.

The worst fault by far is that the printing of the paintings is consistently too dark. Three examples: The blue colors of: "Myself at the age of Ten when I was a Grasshopper Child" (p.202) are much too dark. It is even worse with: "Ghost of Vermeer of Delft which can also be used as a Table" (p.222) Here the figure of Vermeer is in points indistinguishable from the backround and the sky is much too orange, instead of yellowish. The worst example is that of "The Last Supper" (p.488) where the apostles on the extreme left and right of the painting can barely be distinguished. There are many other examples of this. I made this comparison using several other books and exhibition catalogues, and have also seen the three paintings I mentioned as examples in person more than once.

A close examination also reveals that both paper and binding are not of high quality. I have a feeling this book will not stand the test of time. One way to tell a good Art Books when the paper is a higher weight. Judging from the paper, I have a feeling it will yellow in a few years. This is, incidentally, true for other Books that I own published by Taschen. Also, a book this heavy should really have a stronger binding.

Annoying also is that there is no alphabetic index of the paintings. Unless you know the year a painting was created, as they are in chronological order, there is no way to find it except by paging around.

Despite these complaints, I still like the Book because it includes paintings I have never seen before. If however, you want to see the paintings of Dali as they really look, get "Dali: The Work, the Man" instead. It suffers from none of the faults I have descibed, but is not as comprehensive. It's worth the extra money. In collecting Art Books I have found that higher quality Books stand the test of time.

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dali 1 Vol (2 volumes into one hardcover edition), October 23, 2001

By	Charlie Faege (St. Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews

Being the owner of many books based on the works of Salvador Dali, which includes "Dali The Work, The Man", I admit to being somewhat skeptical about yet another "complete" edition; that it would probably have pretty much the same information and reproductions of his art as my other books. I now admit to being incorrect, because this is a well made edition with a truly fantastic bargain price. I have paid well over a hundred dollars for what I'd hoped was a book containing all of Dali's paintings with detailed biographical information, when I found that this is the book with all of that for around ($).
You will not be disappointed with this book and I think you'll agree that the quality is excellent, with a solid binding and beautiful reproductions of all of his paintings in chronological order. There are also a great deal of photographs (and paintings) that I've never seen before, and I thought I was a huge fan of Salvador Dali.
"Dali, The Work The Man" is also a very well-made book, which may be printed on a slightly heavier grade paper, at the most. However, the Taschen book is far more detailed and also excellent quality. "Dali, The Work The Man" costs ten times as much and only has half the content.
I truly thought there must have been some mistake when I ordered it.I still question the price as being far too low, so I advise you to hurry up and get this before the publisher realizes their huge mistake. Perhaps we are dealing with a publisher who really isn't greedy at all--that's my impression here.
I couldn't be happier with my purchase of this book and highly recommend it.

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Mother of all Dali Books...Incredibly Awesome, August 6, 1999

By A Customer

This book is very thorough and well organized. It is organized by the paintings and works done within each year...yes, not just his paintings folks but sculptures and jewelry and other miscellany...like I said, very thorough. This probably contains all of his paintings. The books pages are also printed on high quality paper. You might want to get it while you can, considering out of all the Dali books I've seen, I've never seen this one.