What type of art you like is completely subjective, but whether you like it or not, when we say extraordinary art, Spanish painter Salvador Dali will undoubtedly come to mind. The aim of all works by Salvador Dali is to deliberately bring the subconscious thoughts to the surface of the water and reflect them as they are. For this reason, all these works are interesting in the mildest definition.
Of course, Salvador Dali’s main field of production is painting, but he also shot films, made sculptures, decorated shop windows, and finally even established a museum. Even if he is someone that many of us would be very uncomfortable with if we met and chatted, we can easily say that he created a new breath in the art world with the works he left today. Let’s see who is Salvador Dali, his life and works in all details.
Who is Salvador Dali? An angry child
Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dalí y Domenech, with his full name, was born on May 11, 1904 in Figueras, a small village outside Barcelona, Spain. His brother, who was born before Salvador Dali, died in infancy. This death is of the utmost importance to the artist, as he has often been told by his family that he is the reincarnation of his deceased brother. This situation, which he experienced in his childhood, perhaps laid the foundation of psychological problems that changed his whole life.
Salvador Dali’s interest and talent in art was evident at a young age. In addition to his artistic talent, he is also said to have occasional outbursts of anger towards his family and friends. Dali, who started to attend Madrid Fine Arts School at the age of 10, lost his mother at the age of 16, which was the biggest blow in his life. While living with his father, he began to experiment with the impressionist and pointillism art styles, embracing the arts.
He had an unusual style, even for an art school student:
Salvador Dali began attending the San Fernando Private School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving in Madrid in 1922. It’s normal for art school students to have a different style, but Dali was even more extraordinary. He had long hair, contrary to the era, dressed like a 19th-century Englishman, and wore trousers that made him call him a snob. Dali, who had the opportunity to get to know many different art movements during his school life, was expelled from the school for insulting a teacher in the graduation exam in 1926.
A trip to Paris in the following months would change his life, as he had the chance to visit the famous painter Pablo Picasso in his studio. During this period of his acquaintance with cubism, he studied futurism, Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic concepts, metaphysical painters and surrealism. Discovering the concepts of reinterpreting reality and changing perception, Dali produced his first serious works in this period.
More disturbing than the Dali pictures, the Dali movie:
In 1928, Salvador Dali and producer Luis Buñuel made a short experimental film called Un Chien Andalou. The film, which has very harsh scenes, was not generally liked, but the Parisian surrealists loved it. Something strange happened when Paul Eluard and his wife, Gala, went to Dali’s house to invite him to the surrealists group, love. Gala and Dali fell in love as soon as they saw each other. Due to this love, Gala divorced and took the first step as Dali’s eternal love.
Invited by André Breton to join the surrealists, Dali moved to Paris. Here Dali focused on the theory of the suppression of conscious control over the creative process. Dali took this theory one step further. He discovered a method called paranoid critique or paranoia critique, which he said could access the subconscious through the artist’s own control. Dali would put himself in this state, then come out and draw. To him, these were hand-painted dream photographs.
Salvador Dali’s drawings from this period became increasingly disturbing to some. He described the concept of paranoia, the father figure, impotence, sexualized fears, bones and other objects through his own past traumas. During this most creative period of Dali, problems began in his personal life. Gala was 10 years older than him and his father did not accept this situation. It was the last straw when he said in an interview that he spit on his mother’s portrait for fun, and his father broke all ties by kicking him out of the house.
Dali was a pro-fascist:
The fascist rule that emerged in Spain in 1934 under the leadership of Francisco Franco was disturbing all artists, except Dali. In fact, Dali was expelled from the surrealist group for this reason. However, he continued on his way by saying that I am surrealism. That’s why surrealist artists’ view of Dali and their relationship with him has always been somewhat complicated.
In the following years, Salvador Dali began to travel the world with his wife Gala. During these trips, where he met many important names, what changed his life was his meeting with Sigmund Freud, whom he saw as his idol. When Dali’s works are examined, it is possible to say that this meeting was truly a milestone. Meanwhile, Dali’s luck turned and he met the English poet Sir Edward James. James both bought all of Dali’s works and supported him financially for two years.
Dali is making a mess in America:
During his visits to the United States, Dali was making quite a stir. Gala and Dali would go to the events they were invited to wearing strange clothes, go on stage in diving suits, and make a name for themselves everywhere. The goal was to become a star. Having set his sights on Hollywood, Dali met director Alfred Hitchcock here and created a dream sequence for his 1945 film Spellbound.
Returning to Port Lligat in 1948, Dali and Gala built themselves a giant villa here and used it as a home base for 30 years. Here, Dali made nearly 20 works on canvases measuring meters in size. These works featured optical illusions, negative spaces, and visual puns.
Salvador Dali lived a very reclusive life in this house, but he did not neglect to put on a big show every time he went out. He drank swan eggs, drove around in a car full of cauliflower, signed autographs while connected to a monitor that recorded his brain waves. The lobby of the hotel where he stayed during his visits to the USA was turning into a war zone. He even peed on a painting given to him by Andy Warhol at such a party one night. Of course, all these activities were watched with admiration by the people around him.
The sad end of the mad genius:
Salvador Dali locked himself in a castle he bought for the Gala in 1971. No one could enter without his permission. His depression and fear of abandonment were growing. The over-the-counter drugs that Gala gave him to cure him completely upset his balance. Despite all the difficulties, he succeeded in establishing the Dalí Theater Museum in 1974. He died of heart failure on January 23, 1989 while listening to his favorite records, Tristan and Isolde. His body was buried under the museum he built.
Some of Salvador Dali’s famous works:
The Burning Giraffe / 1937
Tuna Fishing / 1966 – 1967
Dream Caused By The Flight Of A Bee Around A Pomegranate A Second Before Awakening / 1944
Galatea Of The Spheres / 1952
Metamorphosis Of Narcissus / 1937
Christ Of Saint John Of The Cross / 1951
The Great Masturbator / 1929
Soft Construction With Boiled Beans / 1936
Swans Reflecting Elephants / 1937
The Persistence Of Memory / 1931
We examined the question of who is Salvador Dali, one of the most extraordinary names in the art world, through his life and works. Do you love Salvador Dali and his works? You can share your thoughts in the comments.
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