Salvador Dalí - the eccentric catalan and glorious surrealist

Wonderful, crazy, dreamy, playful (and greedy) Dalí - he will remain unforgettable as a painter, graphic artist, writer, sculptor and stage designer , and in several ways he dared to dare and act as an artist.

The Spanish artist genius worked in various areas such as painting, graphics, literature, sculpture and film and is one of the most important representatives of the modern art movement, especially surrealism .

But it was also his eccentric nature and excessive lifestyle that brought a place in the history books of art to the glorious Catalan.

"Every morning, when I wake up, I experience the greatest joy: namely to be Salvador Dalí ..."

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This self -related statement came from the Spanish painter, who was obsessed with fame and wealth and talked both a lot of painting and a lot. His preferred topic: the way to genius . His motto:

"Oh Salvador, you know now that if you play the genius, you will be one!".

Salvador Dalí is one of the best -known artists worldwide, famous for his excessive lifestyle, his striking mustache, his provocative behaviors and his bizarre, surrealistic works.

The artist Salvador Dalí , with a full name Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dalí I Domènech, saw the light of day in Figueras (in the north of Catalonia) in 1904. His parents deliberately gave him the first name Salvador "The Savior" because they were convinced that he was intended to save painting. the threats from abstract art and academic surrealism to Dadaism and other anarchic currents with his art.

His works were characterized by the portrayal of visionary motifs from his own psychological states, which he expressed in an oppressive manner, especially in his paintings from the 1930s. Melting watches and burning giraffes became his unmistakable trademark; The encrypted, mystical and symbolic were recurring topics of his art .

In contrast to the prevailing opinion of the surrealists, Salvador Dalí used an ancient master technology , which ultimately led to his exclusion from this group. Through his creative work, he is considered one of the most eccentric painters of the 20th century.

His later works with their dreamlike worlds of precise illusionist level of detail are among its most important legacies.

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Salvador Dalí - origin and childhood

The artist's full name is as varied as his work: Dalí means “advertised” Salvadore Felipe Jacinto Dalí I Domènech, Marqués de Púbol . He was born on May 11, 1904 in Figueres in Spanish, near Girona in Catalonia.

Dalí's bourgeois origin as the son of a respected notary predestined him less for his future excursions into the worlds of dreams and the noises, the fiber states and the crises of faith. However, the later friend of the subconscious got a heavy mortgage on the way through his birth by giving the name of his brother who had just died before.

Salvador was considered difficult to educate in his childhood and sometimes showed himself highly aggressive towards his fellow human beings. In these moments, he not only injured animals, but also physically. However, the strict upbringing of his father aroused him a strong desire for security and a pronounced penchant for order. His mother, on the other hand, alleviated his father's rigor.

As a child, he was afraid of the brother's grave; He wanted to prove his whole life to the world that he was the original. The little Salvadore showed the first peculiarities early on, the daydreams and an inclination to falsehoods followed veritable outbursts of anger when he was supposed to share the love of his parents with a sister from the age of four.

Early embossing, training and first painting attempts

He lived partly in the attic of the home house, where he developed lively fantasies and painted the first pictures when he was six.

Dalí came from a family of storytellers who glossed over their roots to leave an impression. In accordance with the family tradition, Dalí created his own mythology and re -presented his childhood, enriched with colors, intrigue and a certain dust.

Because of these inclinations, his academic achievements were rather unsatisfactory because he preferred to deal with his daydreams. At the age of six, he had the desire to become a cook. At the age of seven he wanted to emulate Napoleon and finally he made the decision to become a genius to find recognition in the world.

At this age he was also inspired by the impressionist painting of a neighbor, and he also took the genre painting of the 19th century as a model for his painting tests.

In addition to school lessons at the elementary school, he received lessons in addition to the visit to the Instituto de Figueres from 1916 in the Maristen college, a private high school.

A brother of Ramon Pichot named Josep "Pepito" Pichot had recognized his talent for painting and on his suggestion he was allowed to take evening courses at the municipal drawing school. His art teacher was Juan Núñez Fernández, the director of the institute and a sponsor of Dalí's enthusiasm for art.

After a year, the director of the art school recognized an honorary diploma.

In the meantime, the First World War broken out, the impressions of which led the fourteen -year -old Dalí to a group of anarchists, he wanted the Marxist revolution and founded the socialist group "Renovació Social" with friends in 1921.

In 1922 Dalí passed his Abitur and at the same time had his first group exhibition, now he began studying at the Academia San Fernando in Madrid, where he studied painting, graphics and sculpture.

In 1924 Dalí decided to return to the academy. However, on October 20, 1926, he was excluded from the academy due to his inappropriate behavior. The reason for this was his refusal to take part in the exam because he thought the teachers were incompetent and did not seek about assessing his work appropriately.

Development of your own style

Dalí already developed his eccentric style , he dressed in velvet and floor -length treatments and was hardly seen without the big black felt hat and the stick with gilded pommel.

At the age of twenty, Dalí began to turn to literature and devoured numerous books, including the works of his fellow students, the poet Federico García Lorca and the filmmaker Luis Buñuel , with which Dalí produced the legendary film "A Andalusian Dog" . With them he also met the writings of Sigmund Freud . He later ordered psychoanalysis as one of the most important discoveries in his life .

From this point on, his paintings seemed to have the endeavor to visualize Freud's theories for psychoanalysis. Dalí had no innate style; Instead, he developed an individual style based on non -conformism and sensitivity, both of which emerged from his childish imagination.

Dalí's painting style was now sewing on what led to his reference from the academy, in addition to political differences, he remained without a degree. His pictures are now showing significantly futuristic tendencies, with cubist, but also pointillist hints.

Dali examines and tries more artifications , such as the cubist style and the realistic style . Together with Sebastia Gasch and Luis Montanyä, he signed the "Groc Manifest" or also known as "the yellow manifesto". This manifesto represents a sharp criticism of the prevailing cultural movement of the "Noucentism" .

At the end of the 1920s he also tried art -critical texts and as a stage designer . In 1928 the film "An Andalusian Dog" and 1930 "L´âge D´Or" with L. Bunel was created.

He devoted himself to the art stem Futurism and Cubism . The painting "Blood is sweeter than honey" from 1927 is considered his first work, which is assigned to surrealism. After being inspired by his French colleagues, he went to Paris for the first time in 1927, where Pablo Picasso and the circle of surrealists around Joan Miro and André Breton were introduced the following year.

This year was probably the decisive factor in his life: in 1929 he found the surrealists who had merged into an artist group in Paris.

He met Hans Arp and Max Ernst , André Breton and Yves Tanguy , René Magritte and Man Ray and many others of the important contemporary artists. Among them were the poet Paul Éluard and his wife Gala, a Russian immigrant, to whom Dalí fell in love.

Gala - muse, goddess, obsession

Gala, the Russian and muse of the eccentric artist Salvador Dalí, shaped not only his life, but also his artistic work. After they met in Cadaqués in 1929, a passionate relationship developed that even Gala's husband, the poet Paul Éluard, could not ignore.

Despite her return to Paris, Salvador for Gala remained unforgettable. erotic clasp until his end of life .

Dalí's sexual obsession was felt in his pictures , but the relationship with Gala also changed the artist in a different way: Gala was supposed to take his life in every way, the relationship with her led to a break with Dalí's family, in 1934 to marriage and in 1958 to church marriage.

After the civil marriage in 1935 and the church wedding in 1958, she became his driving force: she organized his business and inspired him in his works. 

Gala now replaced the family, she became his muse and manager and she changed his mind. Because Gala should be responsible for the fact that the Narcissus Dalí appeared from its visions and turned to reality, but Gala is also given responsibility that Dalí took the financial side of his work more and more important.

In the early days of the relationship with Gala, Dalí, who was still a dream, painted some of his most important works, e.g. B. “the resistance of the memory” , the well -known work with the ruffling watches.

Dalí immortalized gala in countless paintings and described them as "salt of his life" and "beacon" . Their intensive connection penetrated both her artistic work and her everyday life and was characterized by an exceptional dedication.

However, Dalí became calmer under the influence of Gala, he no longer completely rejected academic painting, the sexual curiosity was replaced by appreciation of family values, in one picture he even exceeded in the defense of Galas.

»Gala & Dalí - the inseparable«, the pair of author Sylvia Frank dealt intensively with the romantic relationship between Salvador and Gala Dalí.

Break with the surrealists and increasing prosperity

In his picture “The puzzle Wilhelm Tells”, Dalí, according to his own statement, represents his father as a cannibal to illustrate the disturbed relationship with his family. Gala, on the other hand, is hidden in a nut at feet of the father figure and threatens to be crushed.

This development of Dalí led to a disagreement with the surrealists , which was completed in the debate about the Tell picture. In 1934, also because of other de -it -hearted Dalís, André Breton accused him of being an antihumanist and defending the new in the phenomenon of Hitler.

The surrealists also condemned his plea for academic painting in a way of modernity and his sudden discovery of family values, as a result of which he even began to defend a fatherly authority. He was also accused him of an ultra -knowled painting and an excessive striving for success .

On January 11, 1935, he gave a lecture in French in the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) about surrealistic paintings and paranoic pictures. During this event, Dalí was able to sell some of his works, also to respected museums.

He also found a gallery owner who has agreed to acquire Dalí's works of art. This not only represented financial security for him, but also enabled him to inspire the necessary inspiration.

After the break with the surrealists, Dalí really lived on the side of Galas, an increasingly determined artist life , with multimillionaires as patrons and trips throughout the world. He exhibited in famous art metropolises, gave lectures and wrote in addition to self -designed works for the first time.

Classic period

From 1936, Dalí and Gala lived in London with Edward James , a rich businessman who financially supported both art and Dalí. During this time, Dalí created his remarkable wooden panel image "The Anthropomorphic Cabinet Cabinet" .

Due to the Spanish Civil War, the two left Portlligate in 1936 and traveled to various European countries. For a while they stayed in fascist Italy, where Dalí's future works were strongly influenced Renaissance paintings museums of Florence and Rome .

In 1938 he even met Sigmund Freud personally during a visit to London.

Artistic creative phase in the USA

When the German troops marched into Bordeaux in 1941, Salvador Dalí and Gala moved to the United States. There Dalí experienced an impressive artistic creative phase and worked with Alfred Hitchcock on "I fight for you" and with Walt Disney on "Destino" .

On November 18 of the same year, an important retrospective with works by the Spanish surrealists Dalí and Miró took place in the Museum of Modern Art, with Dalí's contribution consisting of more than 40 paintings and 17 drawings. This exhibition was then carried by eight cities.

The following year, Dalí published his autobiography entitled "The Secret Life of Salvador Dali" (the secret life of Salvador Dali), an extensive work of over 400 pages that describes his childhood until his emigration to America in 1940

Dalí had left his surrealistic phase behind in 1941, now his classic period , in which he took the motifs of the great classic masters as a model. The former atheist now returned to the Catholic faith and painted a number of pictures that religious issues .

Return to Portlligat and international recognition

Until 1948, Dalí remained in the USA with gala. After their return, they lived again in their house in Portligat on the Spanish coast of the Mediterranean. During this time he created some stage sets and costumes for plays by William Shakespeare and Luchino Visconti.

In addition, numerous paintings were created, which he described as his "most creative period". These pictures were shown in 1954 at an exhibition in New York, in which Dalí himself was present. Through these successes, Dalí became an internationally noted artist.

Since Dalí no longer felt lifted with the surrealists, his work has accepted many forms, he worked for Walt Disney and jewelry designs , designed stage sets and worked in magazines such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar .

He developed perfumes and fashion accessories, written a novel and wrote a treatise on his painting technology, which is entitled “Fifty Magic Secrets” . He painted several pictures to process his shock about the dropping of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima , but also illustrated luxury editions of books, designed ceiling paintings, created stereoscopic images and holographic work.

The list of his diverse activities could still be continued endlessly, in any case Dalí was so rich in the early 1960s that he lived a life in luxury with Gala and employed several employees in his own merchandising company. The managing director of “Dalí Merchandising” also made it to the multimillionaire .

Due to his frequent stays in the United States, Dalí was recognized by Queen Isabella of Spain in 1964 with the highest order in the country for his life's work.

From 1970 to 1972 the "Dalí Museum" built in Figueras, whereby Dalí personally designed all the details of the museum as a total work of art-starting with the monumental eggs on the roof of the building up to the toilets. The architect Joaquin de Ros y de Ramis always worked only taking into account the wishes of the "divine", as Dalí now called himself.

The opening showed a thousand invited guests, the works distributed throughout the building are not limited to paintings.

Visitors can also stereoscopic photography , flexible metal crucifixes, a large sculpture from a surrealist exhibition, a hall as an environment of Dalís Mae-West paintings and works of friendly artists. The entire interior is completed by ceiling and murals painted by Dalí in classic manner.

This shows this entire museum of art and caricature, kitsch and commerce in an irritating as well as magnificent harmony, as they have penetrated Dalí's life.

The artist once said about himself and his artists from the “Golden Triangle” :

"You can turn us as you want, we are always up."

Retrospective in Paris and the end of life

In 1979, an important exhibition by Dalí's works was presented in the Center Pompidou in Paris. After he had a virus infection in 1980, Dalí needed a lot of time to recover. In 1982 he was awarded the title Marquis de Dalí y Pubol by King Juan Carlos I.

After the painful loss of his wife Gala in the same year, Dali lived withdrawn from 1983 and alone in Púbol. There he completed his last painting "The Swallow Cock" , which was based on René Thom's mathematical disaster theory and thus completed a series.

After the death of his wife, Dali reacted with refusal to eat and, as a result, he could no longer swallow, which led to dehydration. Therefore, he had to be fed over a nasal probe until the end of his life.

The artist died in his home town in 1989 after a long illness. The late artist Dalí was buried in Figueras due to his own wish in the crypt under the impressive glass dome of his theater museum, the "Teastre-Museu Dalí" .

In his will he determined the Spanish state as heirs of his real estate and works of art.

In the following video you can see a brief documentary about this extraordinary artist:

The characteristic painting style of Salvador Dalí

Dalí's works of art are characterized by a unique visual language that distinguishes its distinctive style as a leading power of surrealism. Through a fine technique and a pronounced attention to detail, he managed to put his extravagant imagination, through obsessions, fears and dreams. The result is a symbolic, dream -like world that he staged in a realistic or even hyperrealistic way.

The surrealists, including Dalí, were very inspired by the theories of Sigmund Freud. Dalí in particular endeavors to explore and reveal the deepest and darkest areas of his unconscious in his paintings.

His works demand active interpretation from the viewer and aim at their subconscious levels. Examples of such remarkable work are "The Great Masturbator" (1929), "The Persistence of Memory" (1931) and "Dream, caused by a bee around a pomegranate, one second before waking up" (1944).

The fascinating mix of Freud's psychoanalysis and Dalí's surreal visions reveals a deeper level of the human psyche, which appeals to both the conscious and the unconscious. These pictures stimulate the viewer to think about his own inner world and the often undiscovered secrets of the mind.

A visit to exhibitions in which Dalís works can be seen in order to experience the complex and fascinating world of surrealism.

Important topics and symbols in Dalí's works

Salvador Dalí, an artist of the insatiable curiosity, was inspired by science and technical progress . This fascination, which started in his childhood, culminated during his time in the USA. The atomic bomb was taken with him, which is expressed "Melancholic atomic and uranian idyll" (1945) and "Intra -Atomar's balance of a swan spring"

In the 1950s, Dalí carried out a remarkable change in his artistic orientation. He began religious topics with scientific achievements, which led to iconic works such as "The Madonna of Port Ligat" (1950), "Crucifixion" (1954) and "The Last Supper" (1955). ad portrait this work reflects the transcendent with the modern by artistically merging elements of faith and science.

His pursuit of innovation was also evident in the 1970s, as holography and three-dimensional art Dalí. With the development of stereoscopic works using Fresnel lenses, he set new standards. Noteworthy creations from this time are

• "Dalí lifts the skin of the Mediterranean to show gala the birth of Venus" (1977)
• "The harmony of the spheres" (1979).

These works demonstrate Dalí's tireless urge to cross borders and to kidnap the viewer into new dimensions of perception.

Works and photos with the artist Salvador Dalí on Pinterest

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