Don’t dilly Dali on the way

Bowler hats, umbrellas and upside-down orchids feature in the quirky Rene Magritte-themed Orchid Center atrium as part of the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s “Orchid Daze: Surreal Beauty”.

Inspired by surrealist artists including Salvador Dali, Jean Arp and Magritte, the fanciful show includes umbrellas that produce rain and a “tree” of high-heel shoes planted with slipper orchids.

“Orchid Daze” emulates previous shows that treat the orchids as art, the work of the creative team led by Botanical Garden designer Tres Fromme and Orchid Center manager Becky Brinkman.

To make their point, they enlarged famous paintings, covering windows and doors with the murals, and posted explanatory quotes by the artists. For instance, guests are greeted by one of Dali’s famed melting landscapes across the Fuqua Conservatory front facade.

Once inside, they find a quote by the Spanish surrealist above one of the mirrored walls: “Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.”

“I spent a lot of time online looking for women’s shoes,” said Fromme, according to local press. “Then we had a lot of discussion about what orchid color went well with what shoe and which shoes called too much attention to themselves as fancy. I learned way too much about women’s shoes doing this.”


Caption: Taro Taylor from Sydney, Australia, Wikimedia