Salvador Dali, the Surrealist. From Karen Capper

   
Salvador Dali, known for his extremely detailed photo-realistic paintings, is an international icon  for  surrealism movement.  Salvador Dali grew up in the Spanish province of Catalonia, near the French border.  Raised in a middle class family, where he regularly contended his banker father’s conservative, provincial views.  

This fueled by  the volatile political temperament of Spain during the time Franco come to power contributed to Salvador’s extremist views and antics.  From youth, Salvador followed his own “drummer” doing many shocking things that caused much tension with his father.  He started painting and drawing while in his teens., and went to Academy of Fine Arts.  At this point he painted, “Basket of Bread”, the flawless, realistic rendering of a loaf of bread sitting in a basket.  This along with other works spotlighted Salvador and opened the door to his art career.    
Always the radical, even from childhood, he began using his art to make extreme political statements against the church as well as the “status quo“.   His radical stands influenced his art studies and set up antagonism to professors. which got him expelled before graduating.  But, underlying  the professors‘ attiitude towards him, was their bafflement at comprehending his works.  His expulsion happened because professors didn’t understand his work nor  could  they evaluate his work. During these years, while vacationing with family in Paris, he was introduced to Modernism Movement.  There he saw works  of Pablo Picasso, where he returned to be mentored by  Picasso.  Dali  began experimenting with blending impressionism with his surreal symbols.  At this point he painted, “The Persistance of Memory” with his melting watched which is still one of his best known works.  This launched him as a leader in the surreal movement   


During WWII , he moved to New York, to avoid involvement in the war.  This move was great for his art career by giving him exposure in The Museum of Modern Art.  Among his best are Hallucinogenic Toreador and discover of America by Christopher Columbus, and The Sacrament of the Last Supper.  This is one of Dali’s works that continues to amaze me…by pulling me into the painting through the point of view.  I do feel like I am sitting at the table with Jesus who is modern and ancient all at the same time creating this amazing tension of timelessness and immediacy.  Always living grandiose, drawing attention to himself which he thrived on, he grew a flamboyant mustache similar to the style worn by 17th century master painter, Diege Valazques, an artist that Dali drew much inspiration from.  This mustache became his icon. 


Influenced by classical as well as moderism, he launched into the world of surrealism, with noted works such as Persistance of Memory, Lobster Telephone, and even sculptures like Mae West Lips Sofa.  Extremely prolific as well as provocative, he found himself in trouble through his images and comments applauding Franco, and Fascism.   His work always pushed the edges.  Later he made amends with the Catholic church and some of his best known works includes the crucified Christ and the Last Supper.   Two of my favorites are “Lapis-lazuli corpuscular Assumption” and “The  Sacrament of the Last Supper”.  Amazing drawing, unique point of view, and the mixing of mystical through  fantastical settings. His quote,” Nothing more subversive can happen to an ex-Surrealist than, firstly to become mystical and secondly, to be able to draw.  I am experiencing both of these kinds of strengths simultaneously. “ Known for his symbolic complexity as well as his remarkable draftsmanship,  Salvador Dali set and continues to hold a standard for art in the twentieth century.