Notes on Salvador Dali

                                       

     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.