A brief history on Salvador Dali and his art work ,

1. Salvador Dali
A BRIEF PREVIEW OF HIS LIFE AND ARTWORK.
By: Saad Dahleh 1

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).
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3. The Artist
“A TRUE ARTIST IS NOT ONE WHO IS
INSPIRED, BUT ONE WHO INSPIRES
OTHERS.”
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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.
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5. The Art
“PEOPLE LOVE MYSTERY, AND THAT IS WHY THEY LOVE MY
PAINTINGS.”
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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
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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.
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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.”
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9. The Persistence of Memory (Lapersistenciadelamemoria)
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
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10. History of the
painting
The 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.
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11. History of the
painting
This 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.
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12. The Ascension of Christ
Completion Date: 1958 Material: Canvas Technique: oil Painting
Style: Surrealism Dimensions: 115 x 123 cm
Genre: Symbolical Painting Gallery: Private Collection of Pérez Simón.
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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
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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
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15. The Timeline
“HAVE NO FEAR OF PERFECTION - YOU'LL NEVER REACH IT.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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20. Content
1. 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…………………………. 6
II. The Persistence Of Time……………………. 9
III. The Ascension Of Christ…………………….. 12
4. The Timeline:……………………………………………………………………………… (15-18)
I. The Development……………………………… 16
II. Death In His Own Museum………………... 18
5. Citation & references:…………………………………………………………………. 19
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