SALVADOR DALI RESEARCH

Salvador Dali was a pioneer of the art movement-surrealism. He was disowned by other surrealists (due to his non-politically correct depictions of Hitler in his paintings) but he didn't care because he believed he was surrealism. Beginning with paintings in watercolour and oil of landscapes of his childhood holiday destination-Cadacez, he later moved onto cinema and fashion and became the increasingly-eccentric face of the art world. He played the eccentric artist façade and kind of became what his art style is as a means of promotion. This paved the way for other fine-artists looking to become commercial-artists such as Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst.

Early Life

Dali was born in Spain in 1904. His mother was ill for most of his childhood and died while he was still young, Dali shared her fear of germs and he was consequently quite a timid child. However, his early work was commended by his mother ('when it's a swan, it's a swan' she said) and his early observational paintings of Cadacez done in watercolour or oil was the beginning of it all. He often came back to the shapes of the rocks and landscape to suggest something else, which is entirely the point of surrealism. 

He began making these at 15, and by 18 years old Dali moved to Madrid to study fine art, although he was kicked out for telling his teachers that he was so good that they weren't qualified to teach him. These were his formative years, where he became more confident and dandy-ish, and began growing out his infamous moustache.

Un Chien Andalou

Dali, along with friend Luis Buñuel created a student film called Un Chien Andalou. This film contained surrealist themes and was a real spear-head for surrealism in cinema. One of the most shocking scenes from the film, where the lady has her eye cut open with a razor, is referenced previous to the scene in a shot where a cloud intersects the moon. Watching this film gives a clearer insight into the surrealist movement in terms of references to Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytical concepts.

Later

When Dali began to frequent New York is when he really gained his fame, along with Gala who was his partner and manager. During this time he created his Lobster Telephone, which is one of his most famous pieces. His influence on interior design was exponential and conveyed a sense of wit and fun. Dali had patrons such as Edward James at this time and was becoming ever-more recognisable.

He created the 'Dali News' and his creativity bled into fashion and jewlerry in the 1930s. He was especially fond of the lobster and incorporated it into many of his designs-he thought it was suggestive so he likely saw humour in it. His love of Jewlerry led him to create the 'Royal Heart'-a heart made up of rubys that beats using synchronous motors. However, this phase was soon to end as the surrealists disowned him after painting 'the Enigma of Hitler;' Dali said 'he didn't want to pick sides' but his liking of the Nazi leader as opposed to creating work in opposition to the turmoil in Europe at the time (as other surrealists were), Dali was kicked out. He didn't care-he was Surrealism and he believed he could make it on his own.

Then, Dali moved to Hollywood and got back into the world of Cinema. He was commissioned by Alfred Hithcock for the dream sequence in his film, Spellbound. He also worked for Disney, spearheading project 'Destino' which outlived Dali, however the project was picked up after his death and made into a 6 minute film. Dali is great at world-building, conjuring these obscure environments so watching the animation gives us a sense of interacting with these worlds of his, as if we're in them. It's fascinating to watch.

The older Dali got, the more eccentric he also became, doing things like ordering a 12m long loaf of bread and slicking his moustache up the way he did. His eccentricity landed him roles in advertisements for things like chocolate and alcohol-surrealism in adverts is more commonplace nowadays and Dali could be part of the reason why. Towards his death, he became obsessed by religious imagery and nuclear physics, creating artork based on atomic structure.

Research Reference