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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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The Surrealist Phenomenon - SALVADOR DALI
11/25/2012 10:28:20 PM

Dear friends,

I have long felt indebted with you for want of a new great artist to feature. And put it down to irresolution or mere indolence, this time I have opted for a very, very special guest: Salvador Dali, the Spanish surrealist painter.

To me, Dali (1904-1989) would seem to
ever have been alive. No wonder, he used to be everyday news for his unconventional behavior. At André Breton’s claim that he must be barred from the Surrealist movement (which in fact he was) for his deplorable attitudes, he retorted: "The only difference between me and the Surrealists is I am a Surrealist." Wow.

Yet if I had not much ado in selecting him, I did have in choosing one of his lesser-known paintings (but one I have always loved without reservations) to feature alongside with him: you may see it below:
The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus (1958-59).

As is usual with our featured artists, Dali was prodigiously prolific. In effect, he seems to always have painted compulsively. But take it easy, please; at this point I will only mention a few other master works by him:
The Persistence of Memory (1931), his Christ of Saint John of the Cross (1951), his Leda Atomica (1949), etc. Other great paintings will probably be appearing in due course along this thread.

Thank you,

Luis Miguel Goitizolo


GREAT MASTERS OF PAINTING -
SALVADOR DALI

(Click on image to enlarge)

The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus (1)
By Salvador Dali
(born May 11, 1904, Figueras, Spain
died Jan. 23, 1989, Figueras)

Technical data (2)

Technique: oil

Material: canvas

1958 - 1959

Dimensions: 410 x 310 cm

Gallery: Salvador Dali Museum,
St. Petersburg, FL, USA


Profile (3)


Salvador Dalí, in full Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dalí y Domenech (born May 11, 1904, Figueras, Spain—died Jan. 23, 1989, Figueras), Spanish Surrealist painter and printmaker, influential for his explorations of subconscious imagery.

As an art student in Madrid and Barcelona, Dalí assimilated a vast number of artistic styles and displayed unusual technical facility as a painter. It was not until the late 1920s, however, that two events brought about the development of his mature artistic style: his discovery of Sigmund Freud’s writings on the erotic significance of subconscious imagery, and his affiliation with the Paris Surrealists, a group of artists and writers who sought to establish the “greater reality” of man’s subconscious over his reason. To bring up images from his subconscious mind, Dalí began to induce hallucinatory states in himself by a process he described as “paranoiac critical.”

Once Dalí hit on this method, his painting style matured with extraordinary rapidity, and from 1929 to 1937 he produced the paintings which made him the world’s best-known Surrealist artist. He depicted a dream world in which commonplace objects are juxtaposed, deformed, or otherwise metamorphosed in a bizarre and irrational fashion. Dalí portrayed these objects in meticulous, almost painfully realistic detail and usually placed them within bleak, sunlit landscapes that were reminiscent of his Catalonian homeland. Perhaps the most famous of these enigmatic images is “The Persistence of Memory” (1931), in which limp, melting watches rest in an eerily calm landscape. With the Spanish director Luis Buñuel, Dalí also made two Surrealistic films—Un Chien andalou (1928;
An Andalusian Dog) and L’Âge d’or (1930; The Golden Age)—that are similarly filled with grotesque but highly suggestive images.

In the late 1930s Dalí switched to painting in a more academic style under the influence of the Renaissance painter Raphael, and as a consequence he was expelled from the Surrealist movement. Thereafter he spent much of his time designing theatre sets, interiors of fashionable shops, and jewelry, as well as exhibiting his genius for flamboyant self-promotional stunts in the United States, where he lived from 1940 to 1955. In the period from 1950 to 1970 Dalí painted many works with religious themes, though he continued to explore erotic subjects, to represent childhood memories, and to use themes centring on his wife, Gala. Notwithstanding their technical accomplishments, these later paintings are not as highly regarded as the artist’s earlier works. The most interesting and revealing of Dalí’s books is
The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí (1942–44).

(1) This image is a courtesy of WikiPaintings.

(2) Ibid.

(3)
Encyclopedia Britannica.
Other excelent biographies of Salvador Dali may be found at Wikipedia and The Artchive (click "Dali" on the left menu).


"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: The Surrealist Phenomenon - SALVADOR DALI
11/25/2012 10:41:06 PM

Salvador Dali Paintings (Some of his best)



Artist - Salvador Dali
Song - Endecha Preludio
Song Artist - Antonio De Lucena

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Myrna Ferguson

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RE: The Surrealist Phenomenon - SALVADOR DALI
11/26/2012 1:35:37 AM
Hi Miguel,

This painting to me looks like the artist Salvador Dali had obsession with crosses I guess I am not in the subconscious state to see what he saw. I am looking forward to your thoughts on this painting.
LOVE IS THE ANSWER
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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: The Surrealist Phenomenon - SALVADOR DALI
11/26/2012 3:08:57 AM
Hi Myrna,

If not obsession, Dali seemed to at least have a strong penchant for hidden (and at times not-so-hidden) imagery in some of his paintings, and the cross certainly had a prominent space in them. I of course cannot but love this trend of him, as it generally gave them a most special meaning, even if a mysterious one most of the times.

In
addition, in this particular painting Dali was paying homage to Diego Velazquez, his great Spanish precursor, with the numerous tall vertical lances at its right, clearly quoted from Surrender at Breda. Now if you carefully follow them to the right and upwards, you may see among them a ghost-like image of Dali's Christ of Saint John of the Cross...

You may want to look here for more info and hidden meanings in this master work. One of them will surely astound you. I, for one, have learned that it was
Huntington Hartford who commissioned Dali to paint it.

Hugs,

Miguel

Quote:
Hi Miguel,

This painting to me looks like the artist Salvador Dali had obsession with crosses I guess I am not in the subconscious state to see what he saw. I am looking forward to your thoughts on this painting.

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Roger Macdivitt .

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RE: The Surrealist Phenomenon - SALVADOR DALI
11/26/2012 9:15:02 AM

Ooooooohhhh,

If only I had more time to post today.

One of my favourite artists.

Dali really could put paint to canvas, sculpt and design.

Your first example is a triumph of colour, composition and technique. Couple this with the distinctly crazy mind that was capable of so much original thought and as a master of art he was up there with the greats. Some of his figures show DaVinci understanding and application.

Luis, I am going to love this forum.

If I could aspire to any artists work it wold be Dali. I don't think that I want the confused mindset so it might not work.

I have a lot of surrealist ideas and subjects that I want to bring but I need to learn much more about technique and craft.

Roger

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