Have you
ever displayed elephant skulls in front of your home or imagined being a fish,
or find yourself fascinated with your own excrement? One very eccentric man did
all these things, Mr. Salvador Dali, one of the most famous artists of the
Surrealism time. But then, when was there a distinction between eccentricity
and ingenuity. In a world now, where the quality of imitation decides the
quality of art, Salvador Dali has been a refreshing break from all the left
brainer's nonsense I hear everyday. Trust me, if you have never seen a Dali,
then watch "The persistence of Memory" and let the Pink Floyd's song
"Time" play in the background. Your mind will say a "thank
you"!
My
introduction to Salvador Dali and Surrealism in general is attributed to one
very dear artist friend. Conversations with her made me read "The Secret
Life of Salvador Dali" and since then I have believed that imagination is
"real". A tough book book to read being as ambiguous as the man
himself and being so whacky. Consider this, a man who dreams that his friend
murdered him and then took his wife, goes on to have lunch with him the very
next afternoon and then starts painting the dream! I
felt as if I was reading the incoherent ramblings of a man with a slight case
of narcissism. This at times, made the book somewhat difficult to follow. But,
I found it to be true "Dalinian" as he would say. Reading about the
thought process of some of his work was most intriguing. He seemed to find the
"art" in some of the most awkward places.
Every experience, even seeing a hotel bellboy, spilling some coffee, or
flatulence, had mystic and mythic meaning for him. Read just a few of his
words, and you know that you can't just read his words. Ideas swirled around
him in chaotic orbits, like his beloved flies. His writing makes me think of a
show of fireworks, which an author tries to describe by tracing a few dozen
especially brilliant sparks. Dali’s unique take on art makes his pieces worth looking at
multiple times. Indeed, I can often look back on one of his works and notice a
plethora of new things that I haven’t noticed before.For example, one of his
paintings features a throng of nude women in strange poses. Take a few steps
back or lose your focus on those three, and focus on the man in the front… What
you’ll see instead of those women in the background is a macabre skull leering
at you.
Three things stand out as invariant across
Dalí's life, as he tells it. The second is Gala, his wife, muse, agent, and
tour-guide to planet earth. The third is enthusiasm for everything, a degree of
involvement with his world that permeates his vision and hearing, but also his
senses of smell, touch, and all things of the body. That level of everyday
intensity would stun most people in just minutes, and probably kill some. The
first point in Dalí's world is, of course, Dalí
Dalí's
achievement can be hard to grasp. It is all but de rigueur to say that it has
been obscured by his flamboyant temperament and indefatigable self-promotion,
and further trivialized by his pervasive influence - unequaled even by Picasso
- that is not restricted to just legions of subsequent artists. There are
entire genres of popular culture and kitsch that seem almost unimaginable
without Dalí, including horror movies, science-fiction book covers and
cartoons.
Dalí's paintings from the
late 1920's and early 30's are among the most memorably, lusciously harrowing
images of Surrealism. His serene yet nightmarish combinations of pristine
planes and sudden eruptions of deformed bodies and tortured flesh are famously
fraught with sexual anxiety and obsessions: onanism, scatology and fear of
impotence. They affirm most explicitly Surrealism's first article of faith:
that the uncontrollable forces of the unconscious discovered by Freud were the
true governors of reality.
The Persistence of Memory is one of Dali's
best-known works, and as such, many people have most likely been exposed to it
throughout their lives. Through its showings of soggy clocks and an Oceanside
setting, the painting depicts Dali's view of how memory fades (or in this case,
sags) over time. One thing an attentive viewer will note is the closed pocket
watch, with its lack of distortion, implies Dali's view that memory can only be
distorted if open (shared with others), rather than closed. If you look
closely, you can see Salvador Dali's self-criticism come through in a brilliant
way, in the central figure of the painting. The background of the painting, in
contrast to the rest of Dali's works, are not terribly surreal, and indeed are
quite beautiful in the more traditional sense, and they depict the shores of
his native Catalonia. Surrealism is an art form which seems to be quite
"love it or hate it". For me personally, I love this piece, though at
first I found it quite visually disagreeable. Lovers of more conservative art
will most likely not enjoy this piece, as it is highly experimental.
No matter how realistic or well done a piece is,
the best pieces are always the ones that reflect personal feelings. Humans are
naturally social people that communicate with each other verbally, physically,
mentally and emotionally. If a work of art lacks all of the above, then it’s a
dead piece of art that isn’t as appealing to the eye. When humans can
sympathize with a piece of art, it makes the work all the more great. Dalí
portrays his emotions well throughout his paintings in almost any painting he
does. Anyone can look at his paintings and tell what his relative mood was
while painting the picture.
One catastrophic event in Dalí’s life that is a
turning point in his art is the death of his mother. The death of his mother
causes him to change his styles from painting portraits and landscapes to
borrowing many other styles and began reflecting his tormented soul. His love
for his wife is also portrayed in his painting Galarina. His
feelings of depression led him to painting gloomy pictures. Although not very
easy to find the emotions Dalí expresses in his art when compared to Van Gogh
for instance, it’s his feelings that are often being expressed in his
paintings.
In all of Dalí’s works he clearly defines the idea
of surrealism art. All of his art could be a good exemplar of surreal art..
Salvador Dalí may not top everyone's list of modern artists, but he played one to the hilt. He treated modern painting as an experiment—often as not, an experiment in human flesh. He dabbled in avant-garde movements just long enough to break away, in politics just long enough to change sides, and in popular culture just long enough to have a run-in or two with the producers. He returned to a stock of images as they slipped from radical to obsessive to a cliché. He flaunted his talent, his virtuosity, and his command of illusion every step of the way. And all these extended to the artist's persona as much as to his work. From his melting watches to his long waxed mustache, Dalí became a public figure and a public favorite, like Picasso without the difficulty of Cubism. The profile will not fit everyone's idea of modern art.
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