A few dirty secrets from El Salvador were revealed. Paintings and creativity of Salvador Dali, surrealism What movement in art did Salvador Dali belong to?


Great and extraordinary man Salvador Dali was born in Spain in the city of Figueres in 1904 on May 11. His parents were very different. My mother believed in God, but my father, on the contrary, was an atheist. Salvador Dali's father's name was also Salvador. Many people believe that Dali was named after his father, but this is not entirely true. Although father and son had the same names, the younger Salvador Dali was named in memory of his brother, who died before he was two years old. This worried the future artist, as he felt like a double, some kind of echo of the past. Salvador had a sister who was born in 1908.

The childhood of Salvador Dali

Dali studied very poorly, was spoiled and restless, although he developed the ability to draw in childhood. Ramon Pichot became El Salvador's first teacher. Already at the age of 14 his paintings were at an exhibition in Figueres.

In 1921, Salvador Dali went to Madrid and entered the Academy of Fine Arts there. He didn't like studying. He believed that he himself could teach his teachers the art of drawing. He stayed in Madrid only because he was interested in communicating with his comrades. There he met Federico García Lorca and Luis Buñuel.

Studying at the Academy

In 1924, Dali was expelled from the academy for misbehavior. Returning there a year later, he was again expelled in 1926 without the right to reinstatement. The incident that led to this situation was simply amazing. During one of the exams, the academy professor asked to name the 3 greatest artists in the world. Dali replied that he would not answer questions of this kind, because not a single teacher from the academy had the right to be his judge. Dali was too contemptuous of teachers.

And by this time, Salvador Dali already had his own exhibition, which he visited himself. This was the catalyst for the artists to meet.

Salvador Dali's close relationship with Buñuel resulted in a film called “Un Chien Andalou,” which had a surrealistic slant. In 1929, Dali officially became a surrealist.

How Dali found his muse

In 1929, Dali found his muse. She became Gala Eluard. It is she who is depicted in many paintings by Salvador Dali. A serious passion arose between them, and Gala left her husband to be with Dali. At the time of meeting his beloved, Dali lived in Cadaqués, where he bought himself a hut without any special amenities. With the help of Gala Dali, it was possible to organize several excellent exhibitions, which took place in cities such as Barcelona, ​​London, and New York.

In 1936, a very tragicomic moment happened. At one of his exhibitions in London Dali decided to give a lecture in a diver's suit. Soon he began to choke. Actively gesturing with his hands, he asked to take off his helmet. The public took it as a joke, and everything worked out.

By 1937, when Dali had already visited Italy, the style of his work had changed significantly. The works of the Renaissance masters were too strongly influenced. Dali was expelled from the surrealist society.

During World War II, Dali went to the United States, where he was recognized, and quickly achieved success. In 1941, the US Museum of Modern Art opened its doors for his personal exhibition. Having written his autobiography in 1942, Dali felt that he was truly famous, as the book sold out very quickly. In 1946, Dali collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock. Of course, looking at the success of his former comrade, Andre Breton could not miss the chance to write an article in which he humiliated Dali - “Salvador Dali - Avida Dollars” (“Rowing Dollars”).

In 1948, Salvador Dali returned to Europe and settled in Port Lligat, traveling from there to Paris and then back to New York.

Dali was a very famous person. He did almost everything and was successful. It is impossible to count all his exhibitions, but the most memorable is the exhibition at the Tate Gallery, which was visited by about 250 million people, which cannot fail to impress.

Salvador Dali died in 1989 on January 23 after the death of Gala, who died in 1982.

On May 11, 1904, a son was born into the family of a wealthy Catalan notary, Salvador Dalí i Cusi. By that time, the couple had already experienced the loss of their beloved first-born, Salvador, who died at the age of two from brain inflammation, so it was decided to give the second child the same name. Translated from Spanish it means "Savior".

The baby's mother, Felipe Domenech, immediately began to care for and pamper her son, while the father remained strict with his offspring. The boy grew up as a capricious and very wayward child. Having learned the truth about his older brother at the age of 5, he began to be burdened by this fact, which further influenced his fragile psyche.

In 1908, the Dali family welcomed a daughter, Ana Maria Dali, who later became a close friend of her brother. The boy became interested in drawing from early childhood, and he was good at it. A workshop was built for Salvador in the utility room, where he spent hours alone to create.

Creation

Despite the fact that he behaved provocatively at school and did not study well, his father sent him to painting lessons from local artist Ramon Pichot. In 1918, the first exhibition of the young man’s works took place in his native Figueres. It featured landscapes inspired by Dali's picturesque surroundings. Until his last years, Salvador will remain a great patriot of Catalonia.


Already in the first works of the young artist it is clear that he is mastering the painting techniques of the Impressionists, Cubists and Pointillists with special diligence. Under the guidance of art professor Nunens, Dali created the paintings “Aunt Anna Sewing in Cadaqués,” “The Twilight Old Man,” and others. At this time, the young artist became interested in the European avant-garde; he read the works of. Salvador writes and illustrates short stories for a local magazine. In Figueres he gains some fame.


When the young man turns 17, his family experiences a great loss: his mother dies of breast cancer at the age of 47. Dali’s father will not stop mourning for his wife until the end of his life, and the character of Salvador himself will become completely unbearable. As soon as he entered the Madrid Academy of Arts that same year, he immediately began to behave defiantly towards teachers and students. The antics of the arrogant dandy caused outrage among the Academy professors, and Dali was expelled from the educational institution twice. However, staying in the capital of Spain allowed the young Dali to make the necessary contacts.


Federico Garcia Lorca and Luis Buñuel became his friends; they significantly influenced the artistic growth of El Salvador. But it was not only creativity that connected the young people. It is known that García Lorca was not shy about his unconventional orientation, and contemporaries even claimed his connections with Dali. But Salvador never became homosexual, even despite his strange sexual behavior.


Scandalous behavior and lack of academic art education did not prevent Salvador Dali from gaining worldwide fame just a few years later. His works of this period were: “Port Alger”, “Young woman seen from the back”, “Female figure at the window”, “Self-portrait”, “Portrait of a father”. And the work “Basket of Bread” even ends up at an international exhibition in the USA. The main model who constantly posed for the artist to create female images at this time was his sister Ana Maria.

Best paintings

The artist’s first famous work is considered to be the canvas “The Persistence of Memory,” which depicts liquid hours flowing from a table against the backdrop of a sandy beach. Now the painting is in the USA at the Museum of Modern Art and is considered the master’s most famous work. With the assistance of his beloved Gala, Dali exhibitions begin to take place in various cities in Spain, as well as in London and New York.


The genius is noticed by the philanthropist Viscount Charles de Noeil, who buys his paintings at a high price. With this money, the lovers buy themselves a decent house near the town of Port Lligata, which is located on the seashore.

In the same year, Salvador Dali takes another decisive step towards future success: he joins the surrealist society. But here, too, the eccentric Catalan does not fit into the mold. Even among the rebels and disturbers of traditional art, such as Breton, Arp, de Chirico, Ernst, Miro, Dali looks like a black sheep. He comes into conflict with all participants in the movement and ultimately proclaims his credo - “Surrealism is me!”


After coming to power in Germany, Dali began to have unambiguous sexual fantasies about the politician, which found expression in his artistic work, and this also outraged his colleagues. As a result, on the eve of World War II, Salvador Dali breaks off his relationship with a group of French artists and leaves for America.


During this time, he managed to take part in the creation of Luis Bonuel’s surreal film “Un Chien Andalou,” which was a great success with the public, and also had a hand in his friend’s second film, “The Golden Age.” The young author’s most famous work of this period was “The Riddle of William Tell,” in which he depicted the Soviet leader of the Communist Party with a large exposed gluteal muscle.

Among several dozen paintings from this time, which were exhibited at personal exhibitions in the UK, USA, Spain and Paris, one can highlight “Soft Construction with Boiled Beans, or Premonition of Civil War.” The picture appeared just before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, along with “Exciting Jacket” and “Lobster Telephone”.

After visiting Italy in 1936, Dali began to literally rave about the art of the Italian Renaissance. Features of academicism appeared in his work, which became another contradiction with the surrealists. He writes “Metamorphoses of Narcissus”, “Portrait of Freud”, “Gala - Salvador Dali”, “Autumn Cannibalism”, “Spain”.


His last work in the style of surrealism is considered to be his “Dream of Venus”, which appeared in New York. In the USA, the artist not only paints, he creates advertising posters, designs stores, works with and helps them with the art design of films. At the same time, he wrote his famous autobiography, “The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, Written by Himself,” which instantly sold out.

Last years

In 1948, Salvador Dali returned to Spain, to Port Lligat, and created the canvas “Elephants”, personifying post-war pain and devastation. In addition, after this, new motifs appear in the work of the genius, which draw the viewer’s gaze to the life of molecules and atoms, which is manifested in the paintings “Atomic Leda”, “Splitting of the Atom”. Critics attributed these paintings to the style of mystical symbolism.


From this period, Dali also began to paint canvases on religious subjects, such as “Madonna of Port Lligata”, “The Last Supper”, “Crucifixion or Hypercubic Body”, some of them even received the approval of the Vatican. In the late 50s, at the suggestion of his friend, businessman Enrique Bernat, he developed the logo for the famous Chupa Chups lollipop, which became an image of a chamomile. In its updated form, it is still used by production designers.


The artist is very prolific with ideas, which brings him a considerable constant income. Salvador and Gala meet the trendsetter and remain friends with her for the rest of her life. Dali's special image with his invariably curled mustache, which he wore already in his youth, becomes a sign of his time. A cult of the artist is created in society.

The genius constantly shocks the audience with his antics. He repeatedly takes photographs with unusual animals, and once even goes for a walk around the city with an anteater, which was confirmed by numerous photographs in popular publications of that time.


The decline of the artist’s creative biography began in the 70s due to the deterioration of his health. But still Dali continues to generate new ideas. During these years, he turned to the stereoscopic technique of writing and created the paintings “Polyhydras”, “Submarine Fisherman”, “Ole, Ole, Velasquez! Gabor! The Spanish genius begins to build a large house-museum in Figueres, which is called the “Palace of the Winds”. The artist planned to place most of his paintings there.


In the early 80s, Salvador Dali received many prizes and awards from the Spanish government; he was made an honorary professor at the Paris Academy of Arts. In his will, which was made public after Dali's death, the eccentric artist indicated that he would transfer his entire fortune of $10 million to Spain.

Personal life

The year 1929 brought changes to the personal life of Salvador Dali and his relatives. He met the only love of his life - Elena Ivanovna Dyakonova, an emigrant from Russia, who at that time was the wife of the poet Paul Eluard. She called herself Gala Eluard and was 10 years older than the artist.

After their first meeting, Dali and Gala never parted again, and his father and sister were horrified by this union. Salvador Sr. deprived his son of all financial subsidies from his side, and Ana Maria broke off creative relations with him. The newly-made lovers settle on the sandy shore in Cadaques in a small shack without amenities, where Salvador begins to create his immortal creations.

Three years later they officially signed, and in 1958 their wedding took place. The couple lived happily for a long time, until discord began in their relationship in the early 60s. The elderly Gala longed for carnal pleasures with young boys, and Dali began to find solace in the circle of young favorites. For his wife, he buys a castle in Pubol, where he can only visit with Gala’s consent.

For about 8 years, his muse was the British model Amanda Lear, with whom Salvador had only a platonic relationship; it was enough for him to watch his passion for hours and enjoy her beauty. Amanda's career destroyed their relationship, and Dali broke up with her without regret.

Death

In the 70s, Salvador began to experience an exacerbation of his mental illness. He is extremely exhausted by hallucinations, and also suffers from an excess of psychotropic medications that doctors prescribe to him. Doctors, not without reason, believed that Dali suffered from schizophrenia, which was complicated by Parkinson’s disease.


Gradually, senility began to deprive Dali of the ability to hold a brush in his hand and paint. The death of his beloved wife in 1982 completely devastated the artist, and for some time he lay in the hospital with pneumonia. After 7 years, the old genius’s heart can’t stand it, and he dies from myocardial failure on February 23, 1989. Thus ended the love story of the artist Dali and his muse Gala.

Salvador Dali (1904 - 1989) was a Spanish artist who is best known for his work in Surrealism, an influential 20th century movement primarily in art and literature. The surrealist artist rejected the rational in art; and instead targeted the unconscious to unlock the power of imagination. Dali used extensive symbolism in his work. Recurring images in his paintings show elephants with fragile legs; ants, which were considered a symbol of decay and death; and the melting of clocks, perhaps symbolic of the non-linear human perception of time. Dali's contribution to surrealism included the paranoid-critical method. Dali became the most influential surrealist artist; and perhaps the most famous artist of the twentieth century after Pablo Picasso.

In this article we are ready to present you the most famous paintings of Salvador Dali with their descriptions and photos.

A dream caused by a bee flying around a pomegranate, a second before waking up

Salvador Dali said that this work was intended to "express for the first time in pictures Freud's discovery of the typical dream with a long story, the consequence of a momentary accident that causes the sleeping person to wake up." This is shown by the sleeping figure of the artist's wife Gala Dali, floating over a rock. Next to her naked body, two drops of water, a pomegranate and a bee are also carried in the air. Gala's dream is caused by the buzzing of a bee and is depicted in the upper half of the canvas. In a sequence of images, grenades open to release a giant red fish, from whose mouth emerges two ferocious tigers along with a bayonet, which soon awakens Gala from her peaceful sleep. The elephant, a later recurring image in Dali's work, is a distorted version of "Elephant and Obelisk", a sculpture by the famous Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Giraffe on fire

The work "Giraffe on Fire" is considered as an expression of Salvador Dali's personal struggle with the civil war taking place in his home country. The canvas depicts two female figures with vague phallic forms protruding from their backs. The arms, forearms and face of the nearest figure are stripped down to the muscle tissue beneath the skin. Opposite, drawers open from the figure's left leg and chest. Salvador Dali was a great admirer of the famous neurologist Sigmund Freud, and some of Dali's paintings were influenced by Freudian theories. These open boxes can be attributed to Freud's psychoanalytic method and refer to the internal, subconscious within a person. The live image of a giraffe in the background was described by Dali as a "masculine space apocalyptic monster." He considered this a premonition of war.

The paranoid-critical method is a technique in surrealism developed by Salvador Dalí in the early 1930s. It was used by the artist to exploit his subconscious through systematic irrational thought and a self-induced paranoid state. Considered one of the main achievements of surrealism, Dali used it in several of his paintings, especially those involving optical illusions and other multiple images. According to Greek mythology, Narcissus, known for his beauty, fell in love with his reflection in the water. Dali's interpretation of the Greek myth, this painting shows Narcissus sitting in a pool and looking down. The Metamorphoses of Narcissus was created by Dalí during his paranoid-critical period and is one of his most famous works.

Swans reflected in elephants

Double images were an important part of Dali's paranoid-critical method. Like the Metamorphosis of Narcissus, this piece uses the reflection in the lake to create a double image. The three swans in front of the trees are reflected in the lake so that their necks become the elephants' elephants and the trees become the elephants' legs. The landscape contrasts with the silence of the lake, as Dali painted swirl-like images to depict the background rocks and skies. Swans Reflecting Elephants is considered an iconic painting in surrealism as it increases the popularity of the double image style. This is the most famous double image created by Salvador Dali; his greatest masterpiece using the paranoid-critical method; and one of the most famous works in surrealism.

By the way, speaking about lakes, let us remind you that on our website there is a very interesting article with photographs about the amazing complex.

This painting was created by Salvador Dali towards the end of his famous career and is considered his last great masterpiece. He spent two summers creating artwork in which, in addition to surrealism, he used styles such as: action painting, pop art, pointillism, geometric abstraction and psychedelic art. Incorporating images of ancient Greek sculpture into modern cinema, Tuna Fishing depicts the brutal struggle between men and large fish as the personification of a limited universe. The painting is dedicated to Jean-Louis Ernest Meissonnier, a 19th-century French artist known for his depictions of battle scenes. According to Dali, Tuna Fishing is his most important work.

In 1929, Salvador Dali met his muse, who later became his wife. This painting was created in the same year and is believed to reflect the erotic transformation that the artist underwent due to her arrival in his life. The main yellow area in the painting represents the artist's dream. From his head emerges a vision, probably representing an erotic fantasy, of a naked female figure, reminiscent of his muse, drawn to the genitals of a man, apparently the artist. Like many of the author's other works, the strange self-portrait also suffers from additives, such as a fish hook, bleeding cuts, ants crawling across his face, and a grasshopper that is attached to his face. This work is a celebration of something that is usually ridiculed and is one of Dali's most controversial paintings.

After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Salvador Dali was inspired by nuclear physics and theories of atomic decay. This was also the time when he renewed his interest in Catholicism. Brought to his period "Nuclear Mysticism", in which his works often used the ideas of modern science as a means of rationalizing the Christian religion. Realizing that matter was made of atoms, Dali caused his work to break down into several atoms. This painting is a portrait of Gala Dali, his wife and muse. Her face is made up of densely populated spheres representing atomic particles that give a marvelous three-dimensional effect to the canvas. The Galatea in the title refers to a sea nymph in classical mythology named Galatea, who was renowned for her virtue. Galatea with the Spheres is one of the most famous paintings from Dali's period of nuclear mysticism.

Christ of Saint John of the Cross

This painting is known as the Christ of Saint John of the Cross because its design is based on a drawing by the 16th century Spanish friar John of the Cross. The composition consists of a triangle, which is formed by the hands of Christ and the horizontal of the cross; and the circle that is formed by the head of Christ. The triangle can be seen as a reference to the Holy Trinity, while the circle can represent unity, that is, all things exist in three. Although the painting is a depiction of a crucifixion, it is devoid of nails and blood. According to Dali, the inspiration for the painting came to him through a cosmic dream in which he was convinced that the image of nails and blood spoiled his image of Christ. Christ of St John of the Cross was voted Scotland's favorite painting in 2006 and is considered by many to be the greatest religious painting of the twentieth century.

Salvador Dali painted this masterpiece six months before the start of the Spanish Civil War. He claimed that he knew about the war because of the "prophetic power of his subconscious." The painting reflects his anxiety at the time and foretells the horror and violence of war. It depicts two bodies, one darker than the other, in a terrible fight where neither is victorious. The monstrous creature is self-destructive, just like the Civil War. Dali made sure that the painting looked very realistic, despite the fantastic creature it depicts. The boiled beans in the painting, which are also mentioned in the title, are perhaps an interpretation of the stew that was eaten by poor citizens living in difficult times in Spain. "Soft Construction with Boiled Beans" is considered one of Dalí's greatest masterpieces and is renowned for its unparalleled use of surrealism to depict the horrors of war.

In The Dream, Dali recreated the appearance of a large, soft head and a practically absent body. However, in this case, the face is not a self-portrait. Sleep and dreams are superiority in the realm of the unconscious. Crutches have always been a Dali trademark, hinting at the fragility of the supports that hold up “reality,” but here nothing, not even the dog, seems inherently stable as it is propped up. Everything on the canvas except the head is bathed in a pale bluish light, adding to the sense of alienation from the world of daylight and rationality. In the work “The Dream”, Salvador Dali returned to the classic surrealist motif. Dreams are the essence of many Freudian theories due to their access to the unconscious, a pre-professional theme for the surrealists, including Dali.

The Persistence of Memory

This iconic and repeatedly reproduced painting depicts a scene of a clock slowly melting on rocks and a tree branch, with the ocean as a trailing blob. Dali used the concept of hard and soft in this painting. This concept can be illustrated in several ways, such as the human mind moving from the softness of a dream to the hardness of reality. In his masterpiece, Dali uses melting clocks and stones to represent the soft and hard aspects of the world respectively. Over the years, the persistence of memory has been much analyzed because Dalí never explained his work. The melting clock is considered an unconscious symbol of the relativity of space and time; as a symbol of mortality with ants surrounding a clock representing decay; and like the irrationality of dreams. The Persistence of Memory is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of art of the twentieth century. This work is not only included in the list of "Dali's Most Famous Paintings", but is also the most famous work in surrealism.

What works of the great master of surrealism do you like? Write about it in the comments.

Surrealism is the complete freedom of the human being and the right to dream. I am not a surrealist, I am surrealism, - S. Dali.

The formation of Dali's artistic skills took place in the era of early modernism, when his contemporaries largely represented such new artistic movements as expressionism and cubism.

In 1929, the young artist joined the surrealists. This year marked an important turning point in his life, as Salvador Dalí met Gala. She became his lover, wife, muse, model and main inspiration.

Since he was a brilliant draftsman and colorist, Dali drew a lot of inspiration from the old masters. But he used extravagant forms and inventive ways to compose a completely new, modern and innovative style of art. His paintings are distinguished by the use of double images, ironic scenes, optical illusions, dreamscapes and deep symbolism.

Throughout his creative life, Dali was never limited to one direction. He worked with oil paints and watercolors, creating drawings and sculptures, films and photographs. Even the variety of forms of execution was not alien to the artist, including the creation of jewelry and other works of applied art. As a screenwriter, Dali collaborated with the famous director Luis Buñuel, who directed the films “The Golden Age” and “Un Chien Andalou.” They displayed unreal scenes reminiscent of surrealist paintings come to life.

A prolific and extremely gifted master, he left a tremendous legacy for future generations of artists and art lovers. The Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation launched an online project Catalog Raisonné of Salvador Dalí for a complete scientific cataloging of the paintings created by Salvador Dalí between 1910 and 1983. The catalog consists of five sections, divided according to the timeline. It was conceived not only to provide comprehensive information about the artist’s work, but also to determine the authorship of the works, since Salvador Dali is one of the most counterfeited painters.

The fantastic talent, imagination and skill of the eccentric Salvador Dali are demonstrated by these 17 examples of his surrealist paintings.

1. “The Ghost of Wermeer of Delft, which can be used as a table,” 1934

This small painting with a rather long original title embodies Dali's admiration for the great 17th-century Flemish master, Johannes Vermeer. Vermeer's self-portrait was executed taking into account Dali's surreal vision.

2. “The Great Masturbator”, 1929

The painting depicts the internal struggle of feelings caused by attitudes towards sexual intercourse. This perception of the artist arose as an awakened childhood memory when he saw a book left by his father, open to a page depicting genitals affected by sexually transmitted diseases.

3. “Giraffe on Fire,” 1937

The artist completed this work before moving to the USA in 1940. Although the master claimed that the painting was apolitical, it, like many others, depicts the deep and disturbing feelings of anxiety and horror that Dalí must have experienced during the turbulent period between the two world wars. A certain part reflects his internal struggle regarding the Spanish Civil War, and also refers to Freud's method of psychological analysis.

4. “The Face of War”, 1940

The agony of war was also reflected in Dali's work. He believed that his paintings should contain omens of war, which is what we see in the deadly head filled with skulls.

5. “Dream”, 1937

This depicts one of the surreal phenomena - a dream. This is a fragile, unstable reality in the world of the subconscious.

6. “Appearance of a face and a bowl of fruit on the seashore,” 1938

This fantastic painting is especially interesting because in it the author uses double images that give the image itself a multi-level meaning. Metamorphoses, surprising juxtapositions of objects and hidden elements characterize Dali's surrealist paintings.

7. “The Persistence of Memory,” 1931

This is perhaps the most recognizable surreal painting by Salvador Dali, which embodies softness and hardness, symbolizing the relativity of space and time. It draws heavily on Einstein's theory of relativity, although Dali said the idea for the painting came from seeing Camembert cheese melted in the sun.

8. “The Three Sphinxes of Bikini Island,” 1947

This surreal image of Bikini Atoll evokes the memory of war. Three symbolic sphinxes occupy different planes: a human head, a split tree and a mushroom of a nuclear explosion, speaking of the horrors of war. The film explores the relationship between three subjects.

9. “Galatea with Spheres”, 1952

Dali's portrait of his wife is presented through an array of spherical shapes. Gala looks like a portrait of Madonna. The artist, inspired by science, elevated Galatea above the tangible world into the upper ethereal layers.

10. “Molten Clock,” 1954

Another image of an object measuring time has received an ethereal softness, which is not typical for hard pocket watches.

11. “My naked wife contemplating her own flesh, transformed into a staircase, three vertebrae of a column, the sky and architecture,” 1945

Gala from the back. This remarkable image became one of Dali's most eclectic works, combining classicism and surrealism, tranquility and strangeness.

12. "Soft Construction with Boiled Beans", 1936

The second title of the painting is “Premonition of Civil War.” It depicts the supposed horrors of the Spanish Civil War as the artist painted it six months before the conflict began. This was one of Salvador Dali's premonitions.

13. “The Birth of Liquid Desires,” 1931-32

We see one example of a paranoid-critical approach to art. Images of the father and possibly the mother are mixed with a grotesque, unreal image of a hermaphrodite in the middle. The picture is filled with symbolism.

14. “The Riddle of Desire: My Mother, My Mother, My Mother,” 1929

This work, created on Freudian principles, became an example of Dalí's relationship with his mother, whose distorted body appears in the Dalinian desert.

15. Untitled - Design of a fresco painting for Helena Rubinstein, 1942

The images were created for the interior decoration of the premises by order of Elena Rubinstein. This is a frankly surreal picture from the world of fantasy and dreams. The artist was inspired by classical mythology.

16. “Sodom self-satisfaction of an innocent maiden,” 1954

The painting depicts a female figure and an abstract background. The artist explores the issue of repressed sexuality, as follows from the title of the work and the phallic forms that often appear in Dali's work.

17. “Geopolitical Child Watching the Birth of the New Man,” 1943

The artist expressed his skeptical views by painting this picture while in the United States. The shape of the ball seems to be a symbolic incubator of the “new” man, the man of the “new world”.

“Drawing is the honesty of art. The possibility of deception is excluded: either it is “good” or “bad”. .

Salvador Felipe Jacinto dali Domenech Marquis Pubol(May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989), popularly known as Salvador Dali, was born in Figueras (Spain) and became one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

His image in art is a bright character. Every second of his life was dedicated to attracting attention. Any of his works is an explosion of delight and indignation in society. Dali was known as a Surrealist, although much of his work is fundamentally different from most Surrealist artists. This fact allowed Dali without reason to proclaim “Surrealism is Me,” which became a step for raising surrealism to new heights.

Salvador Dali was a unique artist. Surreal paintings of Salvador and eccentric behavior gave Dali incredibly highly skilled in a variety of other disciplines. His art ranged from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, from realism to surrealism, from chaos to harmony. Dali was a versatile artist whose art is rich in symbols, many of which were understood only by Salvador and suit his sublime style. To understand Dali as an artist, you need to see more than one piece of his work. Dali never limited himself to painting alone. His demonstrated talent in sculpture and painting shows another side of his creative life, as an excellent director, screenwriter and actor.

Every work of art Dali, it's a way to tell a different story, and reveal a different side of yourself. Dali believed that life itself is a work of art, namely a work that needs to be mastered and conquered every day. For Salvador Dali this was of great importance, which he manifested in artistic form - from the primitive to the extraordinary artistic flourishing of Salvador in everything.

Having created his own paranoid-critical method, Dali was able to transform the pure image of ideas into an environment of unconscious, irrational and impulsive chaos. He described it as "a spontaneous method of irrational knowledge based on the critical and systematic objectivity of associations and interpretations of phenomena in delirium." Thanks to his paranoid-critical method Dali The whole world opened up with an infinite number of possibilities.

Paintings by Salvador Dali, undoubtedly brought him the greatest fame. With his eccentric character and unstoppable energy, small Dali irritated loved ones, and sometimes made them angry. Frequent whims and hysterics brought my father Dali furious, but the mother, going against her husband, forgave her son all his antics, even the most intolerable and disgusting, and tried in every possible way to please her beloved son. As a result, the father became a kind of embodiment of evil, and the mother, on the contrary, became a symbol of good.

Already at the age of ten years young Salvador Dali drew his first drawing "" (1914), although his attempts at drawing began when he was six years old. This small landscape in the impressionist style was painted by him with oil paints on a wooden board. Already at 14 years old Dali were without a doubt the greatest abilities of a draftsman. An early painting of a fourteen-year-old Dali « Boat "El Son""(1919) attracts the eye with its quirkiness. The image is like a picture from a cartoon. A man swims on the sea, holding an oar in his hand. The sail on the boat looks like a huge white fish that moves rapidly through the water. The drawing looks exactly like it does in the comics. This is a very original portrait, where some nautical themes are visible. Dali, which have a repeat in his career.

In November 1925, the first personal exhibition of works took place Salvador Dali in the Dalmau Gallery, where 27 paintings and 5 drawings of the great budding genius were presented. The school of painting in which he studied gradually disappointed him, and in 1926 Dali was expelled from the academy for his freethinking.

The desire to capture the world and improve its forms in early works Dali, had a profound influence on realism. He soon came under the influence of new trends in developing art - Dada and Cubism. At this time, his paintings "" (1922) and "" (1927) make it clear that these are his experiments of Cubism with expressionism. Even then, he still remained true to his early pressing technical connection. " Basket with bread"(1926) - a wonderful example of real feelings and abilities Dali. Here it is clear that the artist was not too far from his realistic roots, even when he was close to Surrealism. Having fallen under the spell of this trend, his life changed forever.




1926. Oil on canvas.

Having gone through all these stages of the creative endeavor of studying painting, Dali has impeccable technique. This is especially evident in his surreal painting "" (1931). “” like a shock wave passed through the entire territory of the artistic community. With this job Dali not only declared himself a faithful Surrealist, but he also declared himself one of the contemporaries of art of great magnitude.

The picture gives a feeling of peace. The melting clock becomes inexplicably soft in this harsh and endless space of sleep, while the hard metal attracts ants like sugar. Here time loses all meaning. The mutated creature depicted in the center of the picture seems familiar and at the same time alien. Long sexy eyelashes seem to disturb insects. Imagination Dali, his expressed inner world in the picture, captivates the viewer with crazy fantasies. “The difference between a crazy person and me,” said Salvador, “is that I’m not crazy.” The painting especially shocks the world with its unforgettable images of melted watches.

Drawings and paintings Salvador Dali are exhibited in the world's most prestigious museums, and some of the best works are in private art collections. In his books " The Secret Life of Salvador Dali" And " Diary of a Genius"expresses the secret thoughts and ideas of the artist’s consciousness. He didn't just draw for his books. A brilliant example of this is the illustration for the play “ Macbeth» Shakespeare. Incredibly detailed work of art with monstrously abstruse illustrations of large caliber.

Entire life Dali was unique, especially unique was his union with Elena Dyakonova, the ex-wife of Paul Eluard and the mistress of Max Ernst. This couple felt and understood each other. For Salvador Dali Gala became not only his wife, but also his favorite model and the divine muse of his inspiration. Gala lived only the life of Salvador, and Salvador admired her.

By 1959 Dali won the title of great artist. His paintings were worth a huge fortune. His fans and lovers of luxury purchased masterpieces for crazy money. Have paintings in your collection Dali was considered a great luxury. While Dali and Gala were able to truly transform their modest shack in Port Lligat, purchased in 1930 from local fishermen, into a cozy home.

At the end of the 60s, a vibrant and passionate relationship between Dali and Galoy fade away. Dali Gala buys her own castle. After breaking up with Gala, Dali never stopped creating.

There is something honest in his rough works, unlike painting and graphics. They cannot hide mistakes, but they also do not have many shortcomings. Drawing drawings Dali have still retained the highest level of draftsman's technique. For example, in " Portrait of Mrs. Jack Warner" and in " portrait of Colonel Jack Warner» gentle movements of lines and compositions are visible. These are preliminary ideas for work. Here he sketched handwritten notes of his thoughts at the time of creating the drawings.


Natural cotton canvas for paintings and photos, density 380 g/m2

1951. Oil on canvas


The drawings look more like works of art than drafts. Dali was such a genius that if by a lucky chance you managed to get his autograph, you could say you received a work of art. Dali was a famous artist of his autographs. He wanted to be admired, to leave behind something stylish and of high quality.

Dali once said: “Drawing is the honesty of art. The possibility of deception is excluded: either it is “good” or “bad”. Dali believed that a real artist should not only be able to draw, but draw well. True talent lies in how well an artist is able to express their thoughts and feelings to the world. Dali worked endless hours with a pencil sketch, only to soon move on to brush strokes, creating future masterpieces.

Currently drawings Salvador Dali are of enormous value on world art markets, auctions and exhibitions. Many of his drawings cost more than one thousand dollars. Typically, these are drawings of his research, his initial plans for future works.

Despite his artistic talent, Dali created an extensive collection of sculptures. Some of the larger ones he created stand around the world in places like London (at the foot of the famous London eye), Singapore, and throughout France. Perhaps his most famous surreal sculpture " Lobster phone", created by him in 1936 together with the surrealist artist Edward James. Among the sculptor Dali worked most of his life, thereby trying to bring his ideas to the third dimension, and give his paintings more life.