Time, space, movement, and our surroundings in general is something that interests us all, but even more than that, something we’ve all thought about is the unknown, alternate realities, or what happens when we are no longer in this physical form. The Spanish artist, Salvador Dali, was not an exception to having these thoughts and took one step further into exploring them and expressing his findings through his art. He explored these ideas and many more through the use of paintings, sculptures and even film. The art technique Dali is mostly known for ,Surrealism, was the method used by Dali to dive into non rational ways of life. He studied Freud’s Psychoanalytic concept and focused on his theory of subconscious; where many feelings, thoughts, desires, and others are not being controlled by the conscious, and are somewhat  hard to access as an awake and conscious person. Nonetheless, that did not stop Dali and he found many ways to explore this idea; through dream analysis, hypnotic trances, word games, free association and even inducing himself to hallucinate he managed to access the subconscious and make his art. Dali named this process of perceiving reality Paranoiac Critical Method, which caused fear or paranoia in the artist which helps dive into one’s deeper self. Dali created his own universe and was a man of a very strong mind who held a stance against those whom he believed did him wrong, he got into tons of trouble due to this. However, he spoke his mind and lived his best life even if it wasn’t the “right” way of living. We will be discussing some of his artwork and how it changed us as a world.

Starting with his 1927 painting, Apparatus and Hand, this painting was the start of his surrealist style. The background of this painting is composed of different shades of blue that create the sky, the ocean and mountains. There seems to be a gray platform that holds the Apparatus; This apparatus is composed of geometries like triangles and cones that seem to be embodying a very abstract man holding a cane, on top of the apparatus’ head there is a red, very clearly made out, hand coming out if it. The apparatus and the hand are at a much larger scale than the rest of the beings surrounding it. To the bottom right there is a very posed, very real, woman looking up at the apparatus, almost flirting with him. To the upper right and the left of the apparatus there is the body of a woman, a horse and a fish, all seem to become transparent at a certain point, ghost like. These all have something to do with sexual desire and the consequences of it.  

Diving a little bit into his filmmaking, we can take a look at the 1929 film, Un Chien Andalou or An Andalusian Dog, by Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel. This is a 17 minute long film that came about when two literal dreams were put together; Dali had dreamt of a hand covered in ants and Bunuel of a knife slicing an eye. It is a very abstract film like never before seen, the movie is like a dream very illogical and random. 

Next is the very famous, very renowned 1931 painting, The Persistence of Memory. This is probably Dali’s most famous painting and can be found in the MOMA today. The setting of the painting is The bay of Rosas which is located near his place of birth Catalunya. The main “attraction” of this painting are the draping watches, which was inspired by melting Camembert cheese, and seems to be representing the meaning of time, or the loss of meaning of time as we know it. A self portrait of the painter could be seen draping on what seems to be some rocky mountains on top of the face is also a draping watch. Finally, we also see an appearance of ants here too, they seem to be attacking a pocket watch, which is supposed to symbolize decay. 

Gala is Dali’s lifelong muse and wife, they met when Dali was being recruited to become a surrealist and a group of people including Gala and her then husband Paul Eluard were sent to recruit him. Shortly after Gala and Dali began having an affair and later becoming his wife. The painting, Galatea of the Spheres, made in 1952, depicts a series of spheres that are arranged to create a seemingly 3 dimensional portrait of Gala. 

Paul Eluard was a French poet and a surrealist who was married to Gala. In the 1929 painting,  Portrait of Paul Eluard, Dali expresses his sexual frustration through this painting. He had Just met Eluard and Gala and was blown away by Gala, but was frustrated because she was married to Eluard. The background of the painting seems to be inspired by Catalonya like many of his paintings, with the portrait of Eluard as the main focus and other objects surrounding it. There is a pitcher like a woman facing a lion head, this seems to be Gala and Dali himself. 

The Great Masturbator, was painted by Dali in 1929, here we can once again see the landscape with the blue sky and greenish grounds, and we also see the same self portrait and ants we saw in The Persistence of Memory, as well as the lion head and insects, which are part of his paranoia. This painting is another one that embodies the sexual frustration Dali was feeling at the time due to Gala’s marriage to Eluard.

Leaving behind the paintings, in 1936 the surrealist sculpture, Lobster Telephone or the Aphrodisiac Telephone, was created by Salvador Dali for the English poet Edward James. This sculpture consists of a black telephone with a bright red and orange plaster lobster laying on top of it acting as the receiver. These two objects have absolutely no correlation and are very random, which is exactly what surrealism is made of.  

Finally we have Salvador Dali’s Chupa Chups logo, made in 1969, Dali was commissioned by the world famous lollipop company to create their logo. The result being the “Chupa chups” name in red into a bright yellow, daisy-like shape that was to be placed directly on top of the lollipop. We still know and enjoy these lollipops today in more than 100 different flavors. 

Salvador Dali was a man who created his own universe and could not be told to do otherwise. He followed his intuition and with that he made great art that will live on forever, leaving a great legacy for himself.

 

 

 

https://salvadordaliprints.org. (n.d.). 

Moma. The Museum of Modern Art. (n.d.). Retrieved December 19, 2021, from https://www.moma.org/ 

says:, R. B., says:, D., says:, N., says:, H. H., says:, K. S., says:, J., says:, N. R., says:, P. B., & says:, C. T. (2021, September 30). Chupa Chups logo, designed by Salvador Dali. Logo Design Love. Retrieved December 19, 2021, from https://www.logodesignlove.com/chupa-chups-logo 

Gala – salvador dali foundation. Salvador Dalí’s Museums | Fundació Gala – Salvador Dalí. (n.d.). Retrieved December 19, 2021, from http://www.salvador-dali.org/