1

Salvador DaliA BRIEF PREVIEW OF HIS LIFE AND ARTWORK.

By: Saad Dahleh

2

Art Movement 1900 - 1980. The notion of Modernism is closely related to 'modern art'. Modernism refers to the new approach to art where it was no longer important to represent a subject realistically. Instead, artists started experimenting with new ways of seeing, with fresh ideas about the nature, materials and functions of art, often moving further toward abstraction. Amongst famous artists of modern art are Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall, and more.

Surrealism: is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual artworks and writings. The aim was to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality." Artists painted unnerving, illogical scenes with photographic precision, created strange creatures from everyday objects and developed painting techniques that allowed the unconscious to express itself and/or an idea/concept (Leader André Breton).

3

The Artist“A TRUE ARTIST IS NOT ONE WHO IS INSPIRED, BUT ONE WHO INSPIRES OTHERS.”

4

Biography Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali I Domenech was born on the morning of May 11, 1904 in the small agricultural town of Figueres, Spain. The son of a prosperous notary, Dali spent his boyhood in Figueres and at the family’s summer home in the coastal fishing village of Cadaques where his parents built his first studio. As an adult, he made his home with his wife Gala in nearby Port Lligat. Many of his paintings reflect his love of this area of Spain.

Dalí not only was a great painter, but also worked on various sculptures, movies and books as well. His various pieces of art sometimes represented his flamboyant and egotistical self. In an interview, Salvador Dalí stated "Dalí is immortal and will not die". yet his art even with his unpopular personality characteristics was still popular throughout the world.”

He was fascinated with the images that appear in our minds when we’re on the verge of falling asleep or waking up. So he developed a creativity technique in which he would recreate that state of mind and produce some of the most amazing ideas.

5

The Art“PEOPLE LOVE MYSTERY, AND THAT IS WHY THEY LOVE MY PAINTINGS.”

6

Basket of Bread:Completion Date: 1926 Material: panel Technique: oil Painting

Style: Realism Dimensions: 31.5 x 31.5 cm

Genre: still life Gallery: Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, FL, USA

7

History of the painting

The Basket of Bread was created when Dali was 22, during his last months at art school in Madrid. He created this work as a test for himself – to prove his technical skill as a painter by demonstrating his ability to create the intense realism achieved by his artistic role models, particularly Jan Vermeer.

It boosted Dali’s ego and gave him a sense of mastery with traditional painting, freeing him to explore more difficult subject matter and imagery.

Dali followed in the Spanish still-life tradition, This simple composition of bread in a straw basket on cloth is set dramatically against a dark background.

8

History of the painting

At this early stage in his career, the artist associated bread with traditional Spanish culture; it was a staple in every kitchen. Bread would remain an important and often-repeated image in his work, evolving as a symbol over time as Dali’s interests changed.

Said Dali himself: “Bread has always been one of the oldest fetishistic and obsessive subjects in my work, the one to which I have remained the most faithful.”

9

The Persistence of Memory (La persistencia de la memoria)

Completion Date: 1931 Material: Canvas Technique: oil Painting

Style: Surrealism Dimensions: 24.1 x 33 cm

Genre: Symbolical Painting Gallery: Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

10

History of the paintingThe Persistence of Memory is by far Salvador Dali’s most recognizable painting, and there are many references to it in popular culture. Although it was conjectured that the soft melting watches were the result of Dali’s interpretation of the theory of relativity, Dali himself state that their inspiration was camembert cheese melting under the sun.

The sequence of melting clocks in a disjointed landscape is the depiction of a dream that Dali had experienced, the figure in the middle of the painting being the face of the dreamer himself. The general interpretation is that the painting, which portrays many melting watches, is a rejection of time as a solid and deterministic influence.

11

History of the paintingThis iconic and much-reproduced painting depicts time as a series of melting watches surrounded by swarming ants that hint at decay, an organic process in which Dali held an unshakeable fascination.

His working method in subverting inherent textual properties: the softening of hard objects and corresponding hardening of soft objects. It is likely that Dali was using the clocks to symbolize mortality (specifically his own) rather than literal time, as the melting flesh in the painting's center is loosely based on Dali's profile. The cliffs that provide the backdrop are taken from images of Catalonia, Dali's home.

12

The Ascension of ChristCompletion Date: 1958 Material: Canvas Technique: oil Painting

Style: Surrealism Dimensions: 115 x 123 cm

Genre: Symbolical Painting Gallery: Private Collection of Pérez Simón.

13

This picture combines two of Dali’s abiding interests of the 1950s: his obsession with a mystic form of Catholicism and his fascination with nuclear physics.

The painting is dated 1958 and belongs to a series of images of Christ that came to Dalí in a dream in 1950. Inspired by the nucleus of an atom, the artist imagined Christ’s ascent unifying heaven and earth.

The sunflower-like corona of the atom overlaps the divine sphere of the Holy Spirit, symbolized by the dove with outstretched wings.

Dali was often intrigued with continuous circular patterns like a sunflower floret as it followed the law of logarithmic spiral, which Dali explained to Mike Wallace in 1958 was associated with the force of spirit in chastity.

History of the painting

14

The foreshortened view, As was Dalí’s custom, he has positioned the figure of Christ so as to obscure his features.

(whose apparently soiled feet would surely symbolize Christ’s many pilgrimages by foot).

Also the Figure of Christ’s fingers are curled, which lend some visual drama to the painting but combined with electrified heavens hints at power.

But why is Gala (Dali's wife and artistic muse) peering out from the clouds? In other Dalian religiously inspired paintings, Gala represented the Virgin Mary.

While the dove ready to descend from the clouds seems like an allusion to the Pentecost liturgically celebrated in 10 days.

History of the painting

15

The Timeline“HAVE NO FEAR OF PERFECTION - YOU'LL NEVER REACH IT.”

16

The Development The Prodigy Child without an Exam: ( Realistic Period )

Dali began to study art at the Royal Academy of Art in Madrid. He was expelled twice and never took the final examinations. His opinion was that he was more qualified than those who should have examined him.

Surreal Art:

By 1929 Dali had found his personal style that should make him famous - the world of the unconscious that is recalled during our dreams. The surrealist theory is based on the theories of the psychologist Dr. Sigmund Freud. Recurring images melting watches became the artist's surrealist trademarks.

17

The Development Dali and Gala: ( Scientific Period )

Gala decided to stay with Dali. She became his companion, his muse, his model in numerous art works and his business manager. For him she was everything. Most of all Gala was a stabilizing factor in his life. And she managed his success in the 1930s with exhibitions in Europe and the United States. In 1934 Dali and Gala were married.

The Classic Period After World War II:

In 1948 Dali and Gala returned to Europe, When Dali scholars speak of Dali "becoming classic" what they mean is that he was following his professed goal to embrace more traditional and universal themes in his work.

18

Death in His Own Museum Salvador Dali is the only known artist who had two museums dedicated exclusively to his works at lifetime: the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg in Florida/U.S.A., and Dali Museum-Theater in Figueres, Spain.

In 1980 Dali was forced to retire due to palsy, a motor disorder, that caused a permanent trembling and weakness of his hands. He was not able to hold a brush any more.

After Gala's death in 1982 he moved to Pubol, a castle, he had bought and decorated for Gala. That left him with deep depressions. Towards the end of his life, Dali lived in the tower of his own museum where he died on January 23, 1989 from heart failure.

19

Citations & References 1- http://impressivemagazine.com/2013/10/17/salvador-dali-creativity-subconscious

2- http://www.salvadordali.com/biography

3- The 20th Century Art Book Paperback – March 25, 1999 by (Editors of Phaidon Press)

4- Bosquet, Alain, Conversations with Dalí, 1969.

5- Images From: http://www.wikiart.org/en/salvador-dali

6- Salvador Dali interviewed by Mike Wallace on The Mike Wallace Interview April 19, 1958.

7- http://www.moodbook.com/history/index.html

9- Linde Sabler. "Dalí". London: Haus Publishing, 2004.

20

Content1. Introduction:…………………………………………………………………………..… (1-2)

I. Art Movements………………………………… 2

2. The Artist:………………………………………………………………………………….. (3-4)I. Biography……………………………………….... 3

3. The Art:……………………………………………………….................................. (5-14)I. The Basket Of Bread…………………………. 6II. The Persistence Of Time……………………. 9III. The Ascension Of Christ…………………….. 12

4. The Timeline:……………………………………………………………………………… (15-18)I. The Development……………………………… 16II. Death In His Own Museum………………... 18

5. Citation & references:…………………………………………………………………. 19