Speech at Kennesaw State University (Georgia, USA), celebrating the Year of Spain for the Visiting Teachers' program, Ministry of Education of Spain (MECD) in 2004. I had the pleasure to deepen in a topic I love.
Practical Research 1: Lesson 8 Writing the Thesis Statement.pptx
Dali & Surrealism
1. 1
Dalí and Surrealism
Lluís Figueras, Visiting Teachers Program,
Ministry of Education/Embassy of Spain
Kennesaw State University (Georgia, USA)
2. 2
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
3. 3
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
4. 4
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.
5. 5
The Surrealist group
The Surrealist group in 1930: from left to right…Tzara, Eluard, Breton, Arp,
Dalí, Tanguy, Ernst and Man Ray
8. 8
Dalí’s family members
• His father
• His mother (?)
• His sister
• His dead brother
The entire family in 1910
9. 9
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
10. 10
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
11. 11
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
12. 12
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
13. 13
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
14. 14
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
15. 15
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
16. 16
His sister: Anna Maria
• …in 1954 and called it
“Young Virgin
Autosodomized by her
Own Chastity”.
17. 17
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.
18. 18
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)
19. 19
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)
20. 20
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."
21. 21
Avida $$$$$ (Dollars)
• Nickname used by Breton.
• Dalí loved money, but was
generous and always
invited.
• Unfortunately, he paid to
have ´friends´.
22. 22
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
23. 23
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
24. 24
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."
25. 25
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
26. 26
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
27. 27
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)
28. 28
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)
29. 29
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)
30. 30
Dalí about him…
• “The only difference between me and a madman
is that I am not mad!”
Playboy Magazine, 1963
31. 31
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.”
33. 33
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
34. 34
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.
35. 35
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."
37. 37
Gala and the Surrealist artists
Why were Surrealist artists so attracted to her…?
Gala and Dalí 1930Gala and Eluard Gala and Max Ernst
38. 38
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
39. 39
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)
40. 40
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.
41. 41
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.
42. 42
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
43. 43
Painting Gala…
• “I like women with an extremely
thin waist and a big rear. That’s
perfection!”
45. 45
Masculine & Feminine aspects
(by Oscar Tusquets, one of Dalí’s closest friends)
Determination Realism Ability for
business
Meanness
Imagination Waste Intuition
46. 46
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.
47. 47
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…
48. 48
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.
49. 49
The story of a rabbit
…very simple situation. Dalí
wanted something more…
50. 50
The story of a rabbit…
…not bad. It is a macabre
situation, but not too macabre.
51. 51
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)
52. 52
His hidden muse…Amanda (Louis XIV)
• Real name: Nanita
Kalashnischkoff.
• Frequent visitor and
his intimate friend.
• Discovered in a
charity ball in NY
(1965).
53. 53
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.
56. 56
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
58. 58
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
59. 59
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
60. 60
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.
61. 61
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…)
62. 62
Early stages…
• Dalí’s 1st painting…
Landscape near Figueras
(Circa 1910)
Self-portrait in the Studio, 1919
Es Baluard , 1918
63. 63
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
65. 65
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
66. 66
The Religious years…
The Madonna of Port Lligat (1st
version, 1949) 49 x 37 cm
Marquette University, Milwaukee
67. 67
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
69. 69
The Last Supper,
The Last Supper, 1955, 167 x 268 cm, Washington,
National Gallery of Art
70. 70
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
72. 72
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
73. 73
Dalí and the Arts: Sculpture
Dalí designed a lot of
different sculptures,
most of them based
on classical
masterpieces.
Bust of a woman, 1933
75. 75
DESIGN: JEWELS
• Elements of his
simbology:
– Cypress
– The Elephant
– The phone
– Diamonds
– Rubies
– Emeralds
– Saphirs
76. 76
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."
79. 79
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
80. 80
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…
87. 87
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
95. 95
A Castle for Gala: The Púbol Castle
• Dalí chose this place for Gala
to live…
96. 96
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."
97. 97
Dalí’s eccentricities…
• Greeting people.
• His relationship with
the Media.
• His appearance and
his shows.
• His language.
Dalí in Cadaques, 1963
98. 98
What can an artist feel?
What can you imagine in a dream?
• “The Butterfly
Effect” (2004)
¡ “Girl with a Pearl Earring”
(2004)
103. 103
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!”.
104. 104
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
105. 105
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
106. 106
A Chien Andalou (An Andalusian dog)
• Dalí and Buñuel directed this
short film (16 min)