“I am confident that Dalí’s genius will be apparent to those who see this book or attend any of our exhibitions and I hope that everyone will be as captivated by Dalí as I still am today, many years after my first encounter with the great Surrealist master”.
Beniamino Levi, Foreword from “Dalí in the Third Dimension”, published by the publishing house Umberto Allemandi & C. in 2010.
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The international art community stands in silent tribute as we mourn the passing of a titan. Dalí Universe joins the world in honoring Umberto Allemandi, who departed this world on his 88th birthday, a poignant closing of a circle for a man whose life was defined by the perfection of cycles, history, and art.
Umberto Allemandi was not merely a publisher; he was a pioneer who revolutionised the way we consume and comprehend art history.
As the legendary founder of Il Giornale dell’Arte and co-founder of the global network including The Art Newspaper, he transformed art reporting into a rigorous, international discipline. His vision ensured that art was never a silent, static aesthetic experience, but a vibrant, living dialogue; a philosophy that resonates at the very core of the Dalí Universe’s mission.
For our President, Beniamino Levi, this loss is deeply personal. Their relationship was a confluence of two minds dedicated to the “Persistence” of genius.
Throughout the decades, Allemandi’s publications meticulously documented the vast landscape of modern and contemporary art, providing the essential intellectual framework for scholars and collectors worldwide.
This shared passion for Salvador Dalí found its most enduring expression in their collaboration on the book, “Dalí in the Third Dimension”. This work remains a cornerstone of Dalinian scholarship, dedicated to the sculptural masterpieces of the Catalan genius and the extraordinary vision required to bring Dalí’s two-dimensional dreams into the physical realm of space and form.
As Mr. Levi reflects: “Umberto had the rare gift of translating the surreal into the tangible. He didn’t just document the Third Dimension; he helped the world inhabit it”.
A poignant testament to this lifelong synergy was recently shared on our social media platforms: a photograph capturing Allemandi and Levi together in the ethereal setting of Matera.
The occasion was the grand inauguration of the exhibition “Salvador Dalí – La Persistenza degli Opposti” (The Persistence of Opposites), which opened in December 2018.
In the shadow of the ancient Sassi, the image captures two architects of culture contemplating the “Persistence” they both spent their lives defending.
Allemandi once remarked: “Art is a continuous dialogue between the past and the future. Our job is to ensure the message is never lost in translation”.
Umberto Allemandi’s innovative approach did more than just report on art; it enriched the very cultural discourse surrounding the Great Masters. His legacy will continue to breathe through every page he published, inspiring a new generation of scholars, collectors, and dreamers to look closer, think deeper, and dream larger.
As Dalí Universe joins the international community in offering our deepest condolences to the Allemandi family, we choose to remember Umberto not through the silence of loss, but through the resonance of his work.
The collaboration between these two visionaries, Levi e Allemandi, is perhaps best encapsulated in the words Beniamino Levi wrote for the Allemandi edition of The Hard and the Soft: “My goal has always been to bring Dalí’s three-dimensional creative process to light, transforming the surrealist dream into a tangible reality that the public can finally touch and understand.”
Today, as we look at the photos of Beniamino and Umberto together, we realize that they succeeded. Through their shared journey, the surrealist dream became tangible.
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