21 October, 2011

Salvador Dalí was one of the first artists I discovered. It was 1990. We learnt about him in art at school. Dalí was a surrealist artist. He painted real objects, made them look real, but then he made a fantasy of the painting from his dreamland. Surrealism is an art movement that is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920's. Surrealism works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtaposition, which is placing objects together, that normally would not be together. His use of melted clocked ignited an interest in me that I had not felt with any other painting. I used his painting The Temptation of Saint Anthony, as the inspiration for my end of year major art piece in year eight.

Les Montres Molles, 1968

Salvador Dalí died at the age of 85 (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989). The above painting is my favourite of all his paintings. I was drawn to the unusual melting of the time, as I described it.

In 1916, Dalí discovered modern painting on a summer vacation trip to Cadaqués with the family of Ramon Pichot, a local artist who made regular trips to Paris. The next year, Dalí's father organized an exhibition of his charcoal drawings in their family home. He had his first public exhibition at the Municipal Theater in Figueres in 1919.

His paintings are filled with images of violence, death and bizarre sexual practices. His parents believed he was the reincarnation of an earlier child, also called Salvador, who died a year earlier.

Dalí’s 1983 painting, The Swallow's Tail, which was his last work, was inspired by Rene Thom's catastrophe theory on abrupt behavioural changes. Dalí was one of the most controversial artists of the 20th century. Dalí started his career as a Cubist. He subsequently became involved with the Surrealist movement although they criticized him for his extravagant lifestyle and his love of money. He never passed college. He was expelled because he thought he was better than his professors. His strange personality caused much controversy and he was often called eccentric. He was once quoted to say: "I am not strange, I am just not normal".
 


Dalí's autobiography described the traumatic effects this belief had on his life, and whilst he had loving parents, this undoubtedly caused Dali long-term psychological problems.