Dali & Surrealism

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Dalí and Surrealism

Lluís Figueras, Visiting Teachers Program, Ministry of Education/Embassy of Spain

Kennesaw State University (Georgia, USA)

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What do you recall when thinking of Dalí? What do you know about Dalí?

ü His moustache ü Gala ü His paintings ü His work ü His costumes ü His museum ü His films & books ü His double images

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Contents •  History of Surrealism •  Dalí’s family •  Testimonies about him •  The Paranoiac critical method •  Gala, his muse •  His work and his life •  His museum •  His last years

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What is Surrealism? •  A movement in literature and the visual arts. •  Founded in 1924 in Paris by André Breton. •  Believed that logic had failed humankind. •  Turned to the unconscious and dreams in an

attempt to transcend the boundaries of reason. •  Influenced by the writings of Freud. •  Dedicated their movement to express the

imagination as revealed in dreams, free of the conscious control of reason.

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The Surrealist group

The Surrealist group in 1930: from left to right…Tzara, Eluard, Breton, Arp, Dalí, Tanguy, Ernst and Man Ray

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Important Surrealist artists (painters)

•  Dalí •  Max Ernst •  Ives Tanguy

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‘Rendez-vous des amis’ by Max Ernst

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Dalí’s family members

•  His father •  His mother (?) •  His sister •  His dead brother

The entire family in 1910

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Dalí’s quotes… •  “At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I

wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since."

Dalí at the Age of Six, 1950 , 27 x 34 cm - Comte Francois de Vallombreuse Collection, Paris -

Napoleon Bust

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Important facts in his life:

•  He was baptized with the same Christian name as his brother, who had died of meningitis at the age of seven.

•  This situation turned him into a substitute and charged him with the duty of living for his dead brother and it was cited by Dalí as the cause of his egocentricity.

Dalí at 8

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Dalí about his brother…

•  “In being born I followed in the footsteps of my adored dead brother, who they continued to love through me[…]. As happened in the myth of Castor and Pollux, by killing my brother within myself I gained my permanent immortality.”

Portrait of my dead brother, 1963

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Dalí’s family…HIS FATHER •  Salvador Dalí Cusí (Sr). •  A prestigious notary. •  Very influential in his son. •  Difficult relationship between

them.

1925

Dalí and his father, 1948 Portrait of his father

1921

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Dalí about his mother…

•  …Felipa Doménech, a lady who loved arts and died, suddenly, in 1921.

•  Just as he was painting this canvas, found a religious chromolithograph on which he wrote: “Sometimes, I spit for pleasure on my mother’s portrait.”

“one can love one's mother and still dream that one spits upon her, and even more, in many religions, expectoration is a sign of veneration; now go and try to make people understand that!"

Lugubrious Game, 1929

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His sister: Anna Maria •  Dalí's sister were very close,

especially after their mother's death, when she took on the role of mother.

•  Anna Maria was the only female model he used til Gala replaced her in 1929.

Portrait of Anna Maria, 1925

Dalí and his sister, 1925

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His sister: Anna Maria •  In 1949, she wrote an

autobiography that portrayed a different view of Dalí, this led to the collapse of their relationship.

•  In revenge for Anna Maria's disloyalty, Dalí painted another version of this Figure at a Window …

Girl at the window (1925) 103 x 75 cm

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His sister: Anna Maria

•  …in 1954 and called it “Young Virgin Autosodomized by her Own Chastity”.

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His studies in Madrid… La Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando

•  First time in Madrid in September 1922.

•  He lives in the Hall of Residence.

•  He meets Buñuel and Lorca.

•  Expelled in 1924 and imprisoned for riots.

•  Second suspension in 1926.

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Testimonies about Dalí •  “Pure rose that

washes away artifices and sketches / and opens the tenuous wings of smiles. / Salvador Dalí / of the olive voice! / I say what your character and your painting tell me.”

(Federico Garcia Lorca, Ode to Salvador Dalí)

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Testimonies about Dalí

•  “Dalí has given Surrealism an instrument of the 1st order, namely the Paranoiac Critical Method, which he has shown himself able to apply to painting, poetry, cinema, the construction of Surrealist objects, fashion, sculpture, the history of art and, if necessary, to any sort of exegesis.”

(André Breton)

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Dalí’s quotes…

•  "It is not necessary for the public to know whether I am joking or whether I am serious, just as it is not necessary for me to know it myself."

•  "Liking money like I like it, is nothing less than mysticism - Money is a glory."

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Avida $$$$$ (Dollars)

•  Nickname used by Breton. •  Dalí loved money, but was

generous and always invited.

•  Unfortunately, he paid to have ´friends´.

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The Paranoic-critical method

•  Active character applied to all renges

of arts. •  DTs experiences. •  Double images. •  The conventional

vision of reality is altered.

Swans reflecting elephants, 1938

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The Paranoic-critical method

•  “It is the spontaneous method of irrational knowledge based on the interpretative-critical association of the phenomenon of delirium.”

Mediumnistic Paranoiac image, 1935

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Dalí’s quotes… •  "The world will admire me. Perhaps I'll be

despised and misunderstood, but I'll be a great genius, I'm certain of it."

•  "When I was five years old I saw an insect that had been eaten by ants and of which nothing remained except the shell. Through the holes in its anatomy one could see the sky. Every time I wish to attain purity I look at the sky through flesh."

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Testimonies: Dalí on Dalí •  “Every morning when

I wake up, I feel a supreme pleasure at being Salvador Dalí, and I ask myself in astonishment what remarkable things this Dalí might do today.”

(Diary of a Genius) Dalí at the Zoo in Paris

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Dalí and his work •  He used to work more than 10 hours a day. •  His studio in Port Lligat was his prison.

Port Lligat in 1930

Dalí’s house in Port Lligat

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Testimonies: Dalí on Dalí

•  “Even I, as I paint, don’t understand the meaning of my paintings, but it doesn’t follow that they have no meaning: in fact their meaning is so profound, complex, coherent and involuntary that it escapes the simple analysis of logical intuition.”

(The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí)

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Testimonies: Dalí on Dalí

•  “There are two important things that can happen to a contemporary painter: to be Spanish, and to be called Gala Salvador Dalí”.

(The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí)

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Testimonies about Dalí •  “I wanted Dalí for the cutting edges of his

paintings – very similar, certainly, to those of de Chirico – for his long shadows, the infinite alienation, the receding line, which meets in infinity, the formless faces. Of course he also invented very strange things that could not be realized.” (Alfred Hitchcock)

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Dalí about him… •  “The only difference between me and a madman

is that I am not mad!”

Playboy Magazine, 1963

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Dalí about Glory…

•  “I enjoy the glory which I have been given, and which is enhanced by the great media of collective idioticisation. But the word glory is not the only the desire to be an admired public personality. The glory of Christ is not that Jesus won the Nobel Prize but his revelation of the glorious body. I want to become a glorious body, a real and incorruptible plot of substance.”

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PAINTERS TECHNIQUE COLOR THEME GENIUS COMPOSITION ORIGINALITY MYSTERY AUTHENTICITY

LEONARDO DA VINCI 17 15 19 20 18 19 20 20

MEISSONIER 5 1 3 0 1 2 17 18

INGRES 15 11 15 0 6 6 10 20 VELÁZQUEZ 20 20 19 20 20 20 15 20

BOUGUEREAU 11 1 1 0 0 0 0 15

DALÍ 12 10 17 19 18 17 19 19 PICASSO 9 9 18 20 16 7 2 7 RAFFAELO 19 18 20 20 20 20 20 20

MANET 3 6 4 0 4 5 0 14 VERMEER 20 20 20 20 20 19 20 20

MONDRIAN 0 0 0 0 1 ¼ 0 3,5

Some painters graded according to Dali’s thoughts

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Vermeer influence?

The Ghost of Vermeer which can be used as a table, 1934

Dalí with his back to the viewer painting Gala rendered eternal by 6 virtual corneas temporarily reflected by 6 real mirrors, 1972

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Dalí and the Arts: Music

•  In his texts, it was very clear that in his daily life he showed great contempt about music.

•  In Port Lligat, he was used to listening Tristan e Isolda , but he really enjoyed the ´scratch´ on the surface of the record.

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Testimonies: Dalí on Dalí •  “The two most

powerful driving forces behind the refined artistic brain of Salvador Dalí are first the libido, or the sexual instinct, and second the anguish of death.” (Diary of a Genius) Visage of War, 1940

“Not a single minute of my like passes without the sublime Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman specter of death accompanying me even in the least important of my most subtle and capricious fantasies."

36 The Enigma of Hitler, 1940

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Gala and the Surrealist artists

Why were Surrealist artists so attracted to her…?

Gala and Dalí 1930 Gala and Eluard Gala and Max Ernst

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DALI – GALA INTERACTION a mutual duality?

Dalí Gala

Her lovers

Her influence Her background

Her admirers

Her past life

His sickness

His eccentricity

His fears

His world

His glamour

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Dalí about Gala…

•  “…for her, inebriated with the desire to draw her gaze, I anointed myself with fish paste and goat excrement, I adorned my neck with a pearl necklace and my ear with a jasmine. When I found myself before her, I was unable to speak to her, shaken as I was by an attack of demented laughter, cataclysm, fanaticism, abyss, terror.” (Life of a Genius)

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Gala’s facts

•  Helena Ivanovna Diakonova •  At 19, she meets Eluard &

marries him. •  Meets Dalí at Cadaques on

August 1929. •  Physically, she had tough

features. •  Delicate health.

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Gala’s facts

•  Dalí declares his love for her & he’s disinherited.

•  Gala was considered sly, mean and unsatisfied.

•  She had a scandalous sexual life.

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Gala’s facts

•  In 1931, she’s diagnosed a tumour in her genitals and becomes sterile.

•  Only understood French (?) •  1st marriage with Dalí in

1934 in Paris. •  Religious wedding in 1958,

in Girona.

The Bleeding Roses, 1931

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Painting Gala… •  “I like women with an extremely

thin waist and a big rear. That’s perfection!”

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Painting Gala…and The Angelus

1935

1934

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Masculine & Feminine aspects (by Oscar Tusquets, one of Dalí’s closest friends)

Determination Realism Ability for business

Meanness

Imagination Waste Intuition

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The story of a rabbit…

•  Once upon a time…there were some little tiny rabbits that, at the beginning of the summer, were rescued after being abandoned by their mother. Dalí & Gala took them home to save their lives.

•  One night, they escaped from their basket, which was on the table of the kitchen, fell down and only one survived. From that moment on, they even took extra care with him.

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The story of a rabbit… •  The little rabbit grew up, had a name, knew them,

slept in their bed, ate with them. •  But the Fall season arrived and, as usual, they

were heading to Paris and later to New York. Gala and him realized that they couldn't take him with them…

•  The service staff offered their help to take care of him during the winter.

•  But the eve before leaving, Gala was absolutely convinced they couldn’t abandon such a loving creature so many months and, the only solution was…

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The story of a rabbit… _________________________

•  …to take it with them and get him to know some more French and American rabbits.

•  …to kill him and bury him with the rest of his family, which had been buried in a special tomb for them.

•  …to kill him, eat him, being dressed for that special occasion. Meanwhile the staff was sobbing.

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The story of a rabbit

…very simple situation. Dalí wanted something more…

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The story of a rabbit…

…not bad. It is a macabre situation, but not too macabre.

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Good choice!

…can you imagine a better way to enjoy?

Doing that, Gala just took to the edge, in a radical way, one of Dalí’s fixations, the obsession of humanity for eating, digesting and evacuating the most beloved things.

Story adapted from ‘ Dali and other friends’, by Oscar Tusquets (2003)

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His hidden muse…Amanda (Louis XIV)

•  Real name: Nanita Kalashnischkoff.

•  Frequent visitor and

his intimate friend. •  Discovered in a

charity ball in NY (1965).

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His hidden muse…Amanda (Louis XIV)

•  Astonishing blonde •  Babtised by Dalí as a

‘Borbon’ (a family of kings), compared with the French‘Sun King’).

•  ‘Daughter’ of a model and a businessman, alleged Russian Prince.

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His hidden muse…Amanda (Louis XIV)

La Momie Sardine de Nantes

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Dalí and the Skull, 1955

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The Dalí – Gala Foundation •  Created on 23 December 1983 at Púbol Castle •  It came into being in order to promote, boost, divulge,

lend prestige to, protect and defend in Spain and in any other country the artistic, cultural and intellectual oeuvre of the painter, his goods and rights of any nature

•  His life experience, his thoughts, his projects and ideas and artistic, intellectual and cultural works; his memory and the universal recognition of the genius of his contribution to the Fine Arts, culture and contemporary thought.

•  Right from the outset, Dalí presided over and directed the Foundation in person. His death in 1989 opened up a period of transition

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Dalí’s triangle of life

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Dalí in America…New York

•  Arrives by ship on September 1934

•  “Surrealism is myself”! •  They stay for 3 months

"I like chops and I like my wife. I don't see any reason not to paint them together,“ was Dalí's reply to a journalist astonished by this picture.

Portrait of Gala with two chops balanced on her shoulder, 1933

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Dalí in America…New York

•  2nd visit on December 1936 •  Becomes one of the most

popular artists in the city •  The scandal in the 5th

Avenue (Bonwitt Teller Department Store) 1939

Cover of TIME Magazine, 1936

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Dalí in America…different locations

•  They moved to America till the war ended.

•  He and Gala lived in Virginia & New Hamphire.

•  In California, in Del Monte Lodge Village.

•  8 years later, they will return to Spain.

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Dalí’s years in his work: •  Early stages (1914-21) •  Impressionist / pointillism (1921-23) •  Cubism (1923) •  His sister as a muse (1923-26) •  His friends (1926-28) •  Surrealist years (1928-1950) •  Classical years (1950…)

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Early stages…

•  Dalí’s 1st painting… Landscape near Figueras (Circa 1910)

Self-portrait in the Studio, 1919

Es Baluard , 1918

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Dalí’s simbols… •  Putrefaction of the flesh, ants and flies •  Childhood / Adolescence traumas (sex),

Lobsters •  Drawers •  Keys, fish, ties •  Vases •  Lion’s head •  Flying action •  Tables •  Stairs, sewing machine •  Cypress

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The Surrealist years:

ü Freud’s influence ü Gala’s influence ü Religious years ü Science paintings

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Freud’s influence…

Freud’s Perverse Polymorph (Bulgarian Child Eating a Rat), 1939

Metamorphosis of Narcissus, 1937

In 1938, Freud, 82, and Dalí, 34, meet in London for the first time

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The Religious years…

The Madonna of Port Lligat (1st version, 1949) 49 x 37 cm Marquette University, Milwaukee

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The Madonna of Port LLigat…

Detail, 12 x 8 ft, Collection of Lady Beaverbrook, New Brunswick, Canada

The Madonna of Port Lligat (2nd version), 1950

144 x 96 cm

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The Religious years…

Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus) 1954

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The Last Supper,

The Last Supper, 1955, 167 x 268 cm, Washington, National Gallery of Art

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Science paintings… •  Classical fascination with

the atomic structure, and his religious background.

•  Interest in perfect forms They represent his conviction that the basis of life itself was indeed a spiral.

•  The Madonna face here is depicted in a state of nuclear fragmentation. Raphaelesque head exploding, 1951

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Science paintings… •  Mythological

transportation •  Gala is Leda… •  …seduced by Zeus •  Dalí keeps facinated

with physics •  Sense of ingravity

Leda Atomica, finished, 1949

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Dalí and chairs… •  “The role of a chair is to be

useful to make the decorative spectre to emerge instantly. The spectre is a style. The chair of the Popes, which borders on the living heaven and the electric chair, which goes deeply into the dead hell. A chair can be even used to sit down, but only with one condition: to be bad seated, to sit down incorrectly.”

Hands chair, 1936

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Dalí and the Arts: Sculpture

Dalí designed a lot of different sculptures, most of them based on classical masterpieces.

Bust of a woman, 1933

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Dalí’s Sculptures

Venus de Milo with drawers, 1937

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DESIGN: JEWELS

•  Elements of his simbology: –  Cypress –  The Elephant –  The phone –  Diamonds –  Rubies –  Emeralds –  Saphirs

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Dalí and the Arts: jewels

•  The jewels and their relationship with money had a special interest for Gala and Dalí.

"The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant."

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Objects and jewels

The persistence of Memory, 1941

Lobster telephone

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Dalí’s designs:

Face of Mae West which may be used as an apartment, 1935.

The lips couch

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Dalí and the Arts: Architecture •  He admired the Italian Rennaissance,

Brunelleschi, Bramante and Palladio. •  He also admired the Baroque and Gaudí.

Main entrance of his museum in Figueres

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Literature and cinema: his work •  100 articles •  Poems •  Two biographies:

Ø The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí (1942) Ø  Journal d’un génie (1954)

•  One novel: Ø Hidden faces (1941)

•  Essays •  Movie scripts

Ø Un Chien Andalou (1929) Ø Babaouo (1932)

•  Unfinished work…

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Double images (Optical illusions)

Abraham Lincoln in Galavision

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Double images (Optical illusions)

Paranoic Visage, 1935

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Double images (Optical illusions)

Slave market with the disappearing bust of Voltaire (1940)

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Double images (Optical illusions)

The Endless Enigma, 1938

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Double images (Optical illusions)

The Image disappears, 1938

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Double images (Optical illusions)

The Great Paranoiac, 1936

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Dalí’s double images

•  The figure of the woman leaning her elbow on a night stand symbolizes the Spanish Civil War.

•  The torso and the face of the female figure are made up of groups of Renaissance warriors, of condottieri, inspired by a combat of horsemen done by Leonardo da Vinci.

Spain, 1938

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Mysterious mouth appearing In the back of my nurse, 1941

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Analysis of “The Persistence of Memory”

•  How many different areas can you see? •  Which are those areas?

24x33 cm

(1931)

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“The Persistence of Memory”

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“The Persistence of Memory”

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Another version…

•  In 1954, in his Science and classical time, he paints “Desintegration of The Persistence of Memory”.

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The Great Masturbator, 1929

Madrid, Centro de arte Reina Sofía

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Castle hunting….Quemarçó(Vilajuïga).

Quemarçó Castle (drawing), 1977

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A Castle for Gala: The Púbol Castle

• Dalí chose this place for Gala to live…

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Dalí’s appearance

Dalí's Moustache, 1950 - technique and dimensions unknown -

- private collection -

Cape Creus, 1955. Dali with the typical Catalan hat and as a shepherd.

P.Halsman: Dalí, why do you wear a moustache? Dalí: “In order to pass unobserved."

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Dalí’s eccentricities…

•  Greeting people. •  His relationship with

the Media. •  His appearance and

his shows. •  His language.

Dalí in Cadaques, 1963

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What can an artist feel? What can you imagine in a dream?

•  “The Butterfly Effect” (2004)

¡ “Girl with a Pearl Earring” (2004)

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Where to see Dalí?

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The Dalí Museum

Figueres (Girona, Costa Brava)

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How to get there?

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The patio

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Dalí and his Cadillac “In the interior of this Cadillac is raining, and for this reason is full of escargots, because with the rain is easy to catch a cold..., and with a cold..., with a cold..., MOCS!, !MOCS!”.

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Dalí’s last years •  In 1981, he’s awarded with

the title of Marquis of Pubol. •  Gala dies in 1982. •  He stops painting.

Gala & Dalí in 1978

Dalí with his last painting

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Dalí’s last years

•  He suffers serious burns due to a fire in his room.

•  He’s moved to Torre Galatea in the Museum.

•  He dies on 23rd January 1989 •  He’s buried in a place he didn’t

choose. The swallow’s tail, 1983

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A Chien Andalou (An Andalusian dog)

•  Dalí and Buñuel directed this short film (16 min)

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A Chien Andalou (An Andalusian dog)