Salvador Dali: The Father of Surrealist Art

Birth:

     Born in 1904 in Figueras, Spain, Salvador Dali is a prominent and the best-known Spanish artist of the Surrealist Movement of the 20th century.

Type of work:

     His famous works mainly range from Surrealist painting to sculptors and graphic designing and artistry. He possessed an elevated imagination combined with his grandiose manner. He is considered to be an icon for the surreal and the peculiar. He was best known for his unique and extraordinary ability to transform his dreams into surreal artistic work.

Rise to fame:

     He rose to fame after joining the former Surrealist Movement. His work is a peculiar reflection of unreal dreams and a paranoiac state of his mind. He has successfully depicted his subconscious mind through bizarre, hallucinatory images. Through his paintings, we access and enter a completely alien world of everyday objects that combine unusual elements of metamorphosis, juxtaposition and distortion in an absolutely bizarre and odd fashion.

     As a result of his work, he garnered a huge public attention for his remarkably magnificent exhibitionism and his eccentric demeanour. His artistically mature and extraordinary painting style made him the best-known Surrealist artist of his era and he eventually earned an honourable title namely “The Father of Surrealist Movement”.

Contribution:

     As a reformer of the Surrealist Movement, he made a benevolent contribution on a wider scale. He made two surrealistic films with Spanish filmmaker, Lois Brunuel, namely: The Andalusian Dog in 1928 and The Golden Age in 1930.

     Following the milestone inception of the former Renaissance, Dali drew paintings which were highly influenced by painter Raphael. Those paintings revolved around religion, represented childhood memories and were mostly centered on his wife, Gala, which ultimately caused his expulsion from the Surrealist movement in 1934.

     Furthermore, he designed well-known theatrics, fashionable luxury shop interiors, made jewelry and also conducted exhibitions in order to promote his paintings in the United States of America [U.S.A]. He wrote books as well, namely: ‘The Secret Life of Salvador Dali’ – 1942, ‘Diary of a Genius’ – 1952-63 and ‘Oui: The Paranoid Critical Revolution’ – 1927-33.

Famous works:

     His career comprises of a total of 1,500 paintings. His best-known work includes his painting called “The Persistence of Memory” of 1931. In the calm and quiet of a tranquil landscape, Dali has depicted melting watches. These are a representation of Einstein’s theory that time is relative, not fixed. It is shown to be an eternal thing. The rocks represent the realities of life, whereas the ocean represents the vastness of the earth.The orange clock that is covered with ants symbolizes death or could be depicted as a misuse of time. The idea that inspired this remarkable reflection of a Surrealist genius struck when Dali was once staring at a melting piece of Camembert cheese on a hot August day.

     A slight modification down the lane of “The Persistence of Memory”, “Disintegration in The Persistence of Memory” is yet another one of Dali’s most famous works. The latter altered painting is a mere reflection of new science of that era, namely: quantum and mechanics in the world of physics. It is an odd demonstration of the scientific splitting of matter into atoms. The former dead olive tree is shown to be breaking apart. The fish is displayed as a symbol of life. The salient idea that brought about this extraordinarily exceptional, distinguished and outstanding piece of work is Dali’s fascination with the atomic bomb explosions of 1945.

     Salvador Dali also created a Surrealist object called “The Lobster Telephone”, a representation of random food items. The idea that brought about this phenomenal invention concerns Dali’s curiosity regarding why, whenever he ordered grilled lobster at a restaurant, he was never presented with a boiled telephone.

    Some of Salvador Dali’s famous sculptures are a follows:

-          Saint George and the Dragon in Singapore

-          Horse saddle with Time in Singapore

-          Space Elephant at South Bank in London, United Kingdom

-          Statue of Salvador Dali in Spain

   Demise:

     After having imprinted his exalted legacy and brilliant talent through his gloriously resplendent and strikingly imperial, grandiose paintings, Dali reduced to utter seclusion in Figueras. He ultimately met his sad demise in 1989, due to heart failure, at the age of 84.