Salvador Dali: Conceptual Framework

Artist

•   Salvador Dali was born on the 11 May, 1904 in Catalonia, Spain, and died on the 23^rdJanuary, 1989.

•   His mother died when he was 16 which had a profound effect on him.

•   In 1922, Dali moved to Madrid to study at the school of fine arts.

•   He was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter in the Surrealist movement with an eccentric nature.This made Dali the most prominent representative of the Surrealist movement and the most recognised artists in the world.

•   He was also the first artist to hold a solo exhibition in Barcelona.

•   While Dai’s artistic output is enormous, he is most often associated with images of melting clocks

•   In 1931, he painted the Persistence of Memory, his most famous work.

•   Imagination partly exists in dreams. This is shown in The Persistence of Memory through the melting cheese idea represented by the melting watches.  There are many theories of the melting clocks. On Dali’s death bed, scientists approached him and asked him if it had something to do with Einstein’s theory of relativity. Dai said no and that it is based of Camembert cheese melting in the sun.

Audience (impact)

One of Salvador Dali’s recognizable works, The Persistence of Memory became frequently referenced in popular culture and therefore was widely recognized. When The Persistence of Memory was painted the impact it had on the audience is different to its response now. At the time it was painted his paintings were criticised because Surrealists identified with leftist politics. However,  Dali thought that art could be apolitical. There are many different interpretations of the painting, some of these include:

·      Feminist

·      Marxism

·      New Historicism

·      Deconstruction

World (influences)

•   Sigmund Freud was Dali’s hero and one of his influences. Freud was a neurologist who became influential in the field of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is the treatment in which a patient talks about their thoughts, dreams and fantasies so the doctor can figure out their symptoms. In 1938 Dali met Freud and sketched his portrait.

•   A dream is defined as a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep. Freud’s analysis of dreams as wish-fulfilments helped him to analyse symptom formation as well as elaborate his theory that a person’s unconscious can shape their conscious state of mind.

•   Andre Breton was a French writer and poet. However is well-known as the founder of Surrealism. Breton was influential to Dali as he was the leading Surrealist at the time but they differed in terms of their political beliefs. Breton also wrote the first manifesto on Surrealism. In his manifesto he states that dreams are important as a reservoir of Surrealist inspiration.

Practice

How:

•    Dali made paintings, usually using oil on canvas, prints, sculptures, films, photographs, jewellery and was a designer.

•   He uses many big brush strokes and bold hand movements.

•   Dali’s preferred painting method is the Paranoiac critical method. This method deals with the interpretation of unconscious thoughts and feelings into increasingly elaborate visual illusions.

When:

•   From around 1920 up until his death

Where:

•   Dali created his works everywhere. He even created some in public. He was a performer and took part in performance pieces that were despised by critics.

Why:

•   He was inspired by realism 

•   He was inspired by surrealism 

•   He was a supporter of Dadaism 

•   Because of his political views

Artworks

Artwork 1 – ‘The Persistence of Memory’,1931, oil on canvas

Figure 1http://karmajello.com/culture/art/salvador-dali-art-compilation-photo-gallery-video.html

•   ‘The Persistence of Memory’ is Dali’s most recognizable works.

•   Since 1934, it has been in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. It was received from an anonymous donor.

•   The image of the soft melting pocket watch exemplifies Dali’s theory of “softness” and “hardness”. In Dali’s time, this theory was central to his thinking.

•   In his painting, ”the soft watches are an unconscious symbol of the relativity of time and space, a Surrealist meditation on the collapse of our notions of a fixed cosmic order" (Ades, Dawn. Dalí. Thames and Hudson, 1982).

•   The human figure in the middle of the composition appears ambiguous as it is obscure. However, it is a strange monster. This “monster” was used in several of Dali’s contemporary pieces to represent him - the abstract form of becoming something of a self-portrait, appearing frequently in his work.

•   The focal point the viewer is immediately drawn to is the animal figure in the mid ground. Its unusual appearance makes it significant. The background features an arid landscape of cliffs whereas in the foreground, melting clocks can be seen.

Artwork 2 – ‘Swans Reflecting Elephants’, 1937, oil on canvas

Figure 2: http://www.dali.com/blog/swans-reflecting-elephants-is-one-of-those-dali-paintings-everybody-loves/

•   The double images used in this painting were a major part of Dalí's "paranoia-critical method”. Dalí used this "paranoia-critical method” to bring forth the hallucinatory forms, double images and visual illusions that appeared frequently amongst his work during the Thirties.

•   The three swans in front of leafless trees are reflected in the lake so that the swans' necks become the elephants' trunks and the trees become the legs of the elephants. 

•   In the background of the painting is a Catalonian landscape portrayed in fiery autumn colours.

In contrast to the stillness of the water, the brushwork creates swirls in the cliffs that surround the lake.