What is Surrealism?

Surrealism is a period in art history when artists create dreamlike paintings filled with mysterious objects or familiar objects that have been oddly changed in ways that you would not see in reality. Surrealism is a style of art where objects are realistically painted (they look real with light shadows, and details) but the way they are arranged or the way their shape is altered makes them look dreamlike, and therefore, beyond real. Surrealism started in the 1920s. Paintings focus on things found in the imagination or fantasy. You might find every day objects, but they arent doing every day things. Artists sometimes find inspiration for their images in their dreams. Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities during World War I and the most important center of the movement was Paris. From the 1920s onward, the movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual arts, literature, film, and music of many countries and languages, as well as political thought and practice, philosophy, and social theory.

Who is Salvador Dali?

Salvador Dali was born on May 11, 1904 in Catalonia, Spain and died on January 23, 1989. Salvador Dali was an eccentric Spanish painter that understood how the media worked and used it to its full potential. Dali was a prolific artist, creating more than 1500 paintings during his life time and many works in other mediums, including prints, drawings, sculpture, book illustration, and theater set designs. In 1922 Salvador Dali moved to Madrid to study painting at the Academy of Arts. Here he began to develop a reputation as an eccentric, attracting attention with his manner of dress, hairstyles, and comments on art. The artist experimented with forms of Cubism and Dadaism during his studies. In 1934, Dali was accused of showing an interest in the fascist movement led by Hitler and as a result he was kicked out of the Surrealist group in Paris. This did not affect Dalis art or life because by that time he was well known worldwide for his special style. The main advancement in Dalis style was the production of religious works. In 1982 his beloved wife and companion Gala died. Dali was suffering his own problems battling with the debilitating condition of palsy. He then moved into the castle he bought for Gala in Pubol until he was injured under suspicious circumstances when a fire broke out in 1984. He was then moved to his hometown of Figueres, Catalonia, Spain where he died from heart problems on the 23rd of January, 1989.

All of his efforts to improve techniques that were already mastered did not gain him any significant fame. He tried to improve many different styles of art, such as Impressionism, Pointillism, Futurism, Cubism, and Neo-Cubism (Secrest 15). Nevertheless, he sought to fulfill the needs of his mental and social life through a new form of art. This new style of art was Surrealism that allowed Dali to express all of his erotic desires and at the same time change the way the world viewed art. As his style matured, Dalis works became more and more affected by the concept of psychoanalysis devised by Freud. Dalis works were increasingly shaped into dreamlike illustrations. The style of Salvador Dali was the most famous and most creative of the twenty-first century because he developed and nourished a style that was insignificant before his time. The dominant themes in his career revolved around his childhood sexual desires and on the study of the unconscious mind. Galas presence in his life greatly relieved of many mental complication, which allowed him to incorporate other themes into his works later in his career.

Artworks analysis
The persistence of memory: He depicted several clocks as melted in a desert setting with the ocean appearing below the horizon. Dreams consisted of a large segment of his life, because he would take siestas, or midday rests, in which he encounters more and more dream Specter of sex appeal: He depicts himself as a child watching a brutalized body of a woman, who is barely able to support herself with the aid of the sticks. Her head seems indistinguishable and seems as if it blends with the giant rocky cliff in the background. He depicts this state of exhaustion of the woman by the use of crutches to support her back and her arm. Madonna of Port Lligat: He arranged the picture around a piece of bread that is visible through a hole in Jesus body. Here the influence of Gala was also seen, because he incorporated her into the picture as the Virgin and as angels.

Fun facts
Dali sported an outrageous moustache for his adult life, and he usually kept it waxed and extending each side out at 90-degree angles. The artist always dressed extravagantly, often in a suit, cape, turban and walking stick. Dali's parents often told him that he was the reincarnation of his older brother who died just 9 months before Dali was born.

At a posh New York costume party, Dali and his wife arrived dressed as the Lindbergh baby and the kidnapper. People were so offended that he had to issue a public apology. Salvador Dali once arrived in a heavy deep sea diving suit to give a lecture and nearly suffocated. He fell in love with his future wife while she was married to another man, and she was also 11 years older than he. Dali produced more than 1,500 paintings during his lifetime. Walt Disney and Salvador Dali collaborated on a short animated film called "Destino." It was shelved until 2003, when the Disney company finished the project based on Dali's storyboards. After disassociating with a Paris Surrealist group, the leader, Andre Breton, nicknamed Dali "Avida Dollars," which means "greedy for dollars" and is an anagram for Salvador Dali. Dali loved the nickname and used it enthusiastically. Dali appeared on TV many times while in the United States, including "The Dick Cavett Show," "What's My Line?" and many commercials. The artist designed the logo for the Chupa Chups lollipop company. Salvador Dali wrote only one novel, entitled "Hidden Faces." He also wrote several autobiographies with outrageous claims that many cannot determine if they truly happened. He used to avoid paying at restaurants by drawing on checks. He knew that the owner would never want to cash such a valueable piece of art.

I DONT DO DRUGS, I AM DRUGS Salvador Dali