Call it the ultimate surrealist presentation. Dali Miami is set to shake up the artistic establishment when it unveils its 200-piece collection at the Moore Building in Design District, a galaxy far away from the confines of any of the largely underwhelming local museums. In addition to sculptures, paintings, and whatnots, there will be a continuous showing of the 1929 film Un Chien Andalou, the iconic 17-minute French film that explores the destructive elements of the psyche and unconsciousness, collaboration between Salvador Dali and director Luis Buñuel. Not phantasmagoric enough for ya? Consider this: for the opening night celebrity chef Adrianne Calvo will recreate recipes inspired by Les Diners de Gala, the cookbook Dali completed as an homage to his wife Gala. A test pilot for what organizers hope to become a jacked-up artistic tour de force, Dali Miami is as ambitious as the eccentric artists, who drove around in a Rolls Royce filled to the max with cauliflower. And if all goes according to the master plan, the producers are taking this show on the road.

Dali Miami is the brainchild of Michael Rosen, president and CEO of Colored Thumb, a driving force behind many of the area’s top art exhibits, including Art Basel, Art Expo and RedDot Fair. “I got a chance to meet a lot of the private collectors,” Rosen, who was the publisher and dealer for Miami pop artist Romero Britto, explained. “One of them had several Dali pieces and from that grew the idea to build a large exhibit. And we managed to put together something not many people have had the chance to see.” While there will be many noteworthy pieces on display, there is one stand out. “We were able to secure Venus de Milo with Drawers for the show. That’s pretty big,” Rosen added proudly.

The exhibit, put together in incredible six months and predictably on a shoestring budget, is loosely build around two central themes in Dali’s work: the natural and the literary worlds. “There was a lot of angst and a lot of alienation going on the time Dali was beginning to work,” explained Reed V. Horth, an art dealer and show’s curator. “Much like today with the arrival of new technologies, people worried. That’s why I find Dali to be so relevant now.”

“He was one of the artists,” Reed continued, “who explored the sentiments around him and arrived to juxtaposition the soft and the hard, the male and the female, the good and the ridiculous. While he was an incredibly prolific artist, for the purposes of telling a story here we decided to stick to those two themes.”

Clear as that may be, there is an obvious awry quality not only to the artist but the exhibit itself. “We felt strongly about bringing this show to a space that defined convention,” explained Horth, who deals art virtually, doesn’t own TV and has a propensity for bicycles, admitting that the surreal quality synonymous with his favorite artist has resonated in his personal life. “We hope to tell the story of Dali, who was the original showman — way before Warhol and the rest of the bunch — in a way that feels organic to him. That’s why everything about the show is slightly off. I was so influenced by this ‘off’ characteristic in Dali that it has affected the way I live, how my house looks, or how I do business. Everything is just a little off.”

Miami, which is turning into a Mecca for Latin and South American arts, oddly lacks a proper museum outlet on par with the hoopla surrounding Art Basel and company. Dali Miami fills in the void that is left by local museums that seem to lack the ability to deliver special exhibits that would ultimately cement Miami’s claim as the destination for modern/contemporary art. “Miami has the capability to be more pivotal in the art world,” explains Horth. “L.A. has lately redefined itself as a force because of the MOCA’s ability to show spectacular art. We can’t really say the same, now can we? Miami does have fantastic private collections that are amazing; museums…I guess that’s something that is still developing.”

There is talk of turning this production into a regularly scheduled touring vehicle, aiming not only to showcase an artist in an unconventional fashion, but also to let the culturists know that artistically Miami means business.

And that, we’ll venture to say, would make The Dali muy pleased.