The Influence that Salvador Dali Had on the Surrealist Movement - Essay Example

? of the of the Salvador Dali Introduction Art has no boundaries, no restrictions, and no taboos. What we consider art in one era is likely to be considered monstrous in another. The art movement- or what has been considered popular art has varied and changed in topic and substance from time to time. This is what gives art its widest berth. Art is but an expression of meaning- it can reflect anything from an artist’s particular point of view regarding the realities of life, cultural phenomena, political satire- the artist’s brush and his mind are the only tools needed. This paper will consider the art movement called surrealism and comment on the influence of Salvador Dali, one of its greatest practitioners at the forefront of this art movement. The Life and Times of Salvador Dali Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was one of the most popular artists of the surrealist movement. Surrealism can be defined as the stuff of dreams, what is held in the subconscious or unconscious, and it is the expression of these thoughts that were the impetus behind the surrealist movement. It is the complete absence of regulated thought and action, in fact the anti thesis of it. The objective of the surrealist movement was to give flight and power to spontaneity and celebrate the absence of order or contrived circumstances. Negative emotions ran high against the established powers after World War I- in fact surrealism was on the rise even in the waning days of World War II. The portrayal of anti establishment sentiment through art and literature defined the surrealist movement in many ways. Dali in fact took on the name of his elder brother who had died nine months before he was born. His father was a lawyer, notary and a strict disciplinarian. His mother however encouraged his artistic pursuits. Dali believed he was a reincarnation of his brother after it was suggested by his parents that he had similar features to the deceased sibling. Dali was deeply attached to his mother and was distraught on her death in 1921. After her death, his father married her sister, Dali’s aunt. He did not resent the relationship because he had great respect for her as well. In 1922, Dali moved to art school in Madrid and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts. With a sharp sense of fashion, he was regarded as a dandy. However his art stood out as well as he was experimenting with Cubism at the time. However he was thrown out of school before the final exams after uttering the scandalous comment that there was no one competent enough to examine him. Dali moved to France and his early works were heavily inspired by Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso, whom Dali adored. Inspired by the artist Diego Velazquez, Dali began sporting a distinctive moustache that became an iconic trademark for the rest of his life. Dali met his future wife Gala, a Russian immigrant ten years his senior at a fellow artist Paul Eluard’s residence in 1929. They were married in a civil ceremony in 1934 and later celebrated a Catholic wedding in 1958. Dali had up to this point been supported by wealthy art collector Edward James of the UK. Dali’s work was introduced to the USA by the art critic In 1931 Dali created his most well known masterpiece ‘The Persistence of Memory’ and the rest as they say is history. He became so famous that even the creator of the surrealist movement Andre Breton began to grudge him with the taunting derogatory nickname Avida Dollars meaning ‘eager for dollars’. During World War II, Dali and his wife moved to the USA, staying there for eight years. However beginning in 1949, Dali moved back to Catalonia, Spain. After World War II, Dali’s work included influences from religion, science and even optical illusions. Dali’s health suffered a serious setback in the 1980 when his wife in her senility had been feeding Dali with a dangerous cocktail of drugs that impaired his health and made one hand shake uncontrollably. After Gala herself died in 1982, Dali tried to kill himself through starvation but was nursed back to health by friends. The King of Spain bestowed the rank of Marquis on Dali in 1982. Dali died of a heart attack in 1989 but gave the King of Spain his final painting on his deathbed. The Emergence of Surrealism Surrealism is the name given to the popular art movement of the 1920’s that developed in Paris, France and had its impact felt all across Europe and North America. Surrealism had in fact developed out of the Dada Movement. Dadaism was an anti-art movement that was rooted in anti-establishment topics. It was a voice of dissent that echoed through the art world in consequence of World War I and its aftermath. The feeling among Dadaists was that it was the vested interests of the bourgeoisie that was the cause behind World War I and all its divisions into territories and new nations. They expressed their disdain through anti-establishment songs, drawings, poetry, music and writings. The Dada movement was at its peak during 1917-20. The main proponent of Surrealism was Andre Breton, who wrote the classic Manifesto of Surrealism in 1924. In fact it was Guillaume Apollinaire who had coined the term Surrealist in his play Les Mamelles de Tiresias (The Breasts of Tiresias) in 1917. Breton met the writer Jacques Vachy in the neurological ward of a hospital where he was using the methods developed by Sigmund Freud to deal with shell shock being experienced by the soldiers. Andre had previously been trained in psychiatry and medicine. As Andre Breton has mentioned in his Manifesto that "In literature, I was successively taken with Rimbaud, with Jarry, with Apollinaire, with Nouveau, with Lautreamont, but it is Jacques Vache to whom I owe the most." Breton chose to define Surrealism in his Manifesto as: Pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral preoccupation”. In other words, “Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected associations, in the omnipotence of dream, in the disinterested play of thought. It tends to ruin once and for all other psychic mechanisms and to substitute itself for them in solving all the problems of life” (Breton, 12). Artists and followers of the surrealist movement found their inspiration in the works of Karl Marx, Herbert Marcuse and Walter Benjamin. As one can well imagine, the works of Sigmund Freud concerning free association, dreams and unconscious thoughts was also paramount in surrealist literature, music and art forms. It was also possible to combine under one frame, elements not commonly associated with each other. The objective was to shock and astound the onlooker. The surrealist painting ‘The Elephant Celebes’ (1921) by Max Ernst is a prime example of surrealist art; ‘Automatic Drawing’ by Andre Masson (1924) is another. Primary Artists As the idea of the Dada movement and surrealism gained momentum among the artistic community, its membership swelled as well. Prominent among the surrealist artists are Max Ernst, Joan Miro, Francis Picaba and Salvador Dali. Surrealists also experimented with techniques such as frottage and decalcomania. Among the writers who joined the movement were Tristan Tzara, Georges Sadoul and Rene Char. Giorgio de Chirico’s ‘The Red Tower’ (1913) was another defining work on the verge between surrealist and metaphysical art. His set drawings for the Ballet Russes is another example. By 1924-25, Joan Miro and Andre Masson chose to exhibit works in the Gallerie Surrealiste which included contributions by Paul Klee and Man Ray. Andre Breton also chose to summarize the movement thus far in his definitive ‘Surrealism and Painting’ (1928); however he continued to update this work till the 1960s. Famous Works Among the most famous works of the surrealist movement are Andre Masson’s Automatic Drawings (1924), Giorgio de Chirico’s The Red Tower (1913), The Nostalgia of the Poet (1914) and his novel ‘Hebdomeros’ involving a series of dreamscapes, with unusual syntax and grammar indicative of automatic writing- like a frame around a picture. When it comes to plays and films, the work of Andre Artaud and Frederico Garcia Lorca such as The Public (1930), When Five Years Pass (1931) and A Play with No Title (1935) are worth mentioning. In the world of writing, it was Magnetic Fields (1920) developed from automatic writing by Andre Breton and Philippe Soupault that was the earliest such work. Salvador Dali’s ‘The Persistence of Memory’ is perhaps one of the most talked about surrealist paintings in art literature. The Influence that Salvador Dali Had on the Surrealist Movement Perhaps no artist of the surrealist movement has been as popular as Salvador Dali. Among the surrealists, the work of Salvador Dali and Roberto Margitte are most exemplary and popular among the public. Specifically Salvador Dali’s ‘The Persistence of Memory’ remains a masterpiece of surrealist art. The painting consists of watches melting in the sun, much like a Parmesan cheese. According to the art critic Dawn Ades, the melting watches symbolize the passing of time- a fleeting state, an unconscious symbol of the relativity of space and time. It is in effect a Surrealist comment that defeats our ideas of a fixed cosmic order. Watches have remained a favorite topic of Salvador Dali in his other paintings as well, for instance Three Dancing Watches, The Profile of Time and the Nobility of Time. In the middle of the painting one may glimpse a hidden figure, a portrait of the artist himself. Dali has said that the idea for this particular piece of painting appeared to him in a dream. He therefore sought to recreate the dream like experience in the painting itself, hence its surrealist nature. Among the other famous works by Dali are the Mae West Lips Sofa made of wood and satin and Lobster Telephone. In fact there are four models of the telephone all present at various museums today. The former was inspired by the actress Mae West whom Dali found fascinating. She is also the subject of his 1935 portrait ‘The Face of Mae West.’ Dali often wondered about the relationship between food and sex and this is often the subject of his works. Another masterpiece of Salvador Dali that took years to create was a heart that was fashioned from jewels and precious stones. The work was started in 1941 and completed in 1970. It was labeled The Royal Heart and has moving pieces. It is presently on exhibition in Spain. Commenting upon this work, Dali himself remarked that it is the audience that is most important, for it is the eye of the beholder and their appreciation that gives the piece its legacy (Dali, 55). Dali was a versatile artist, having influence on art, fashion, sculpture, design- in fact anything he set his mind to. Dali was a surrealist in the real sense, for his life purpose too was to grab attention whenever possible. He was interested in film as well, contributing towards L’Age D’Or and Un Chien Andalou. He also collaborated with Walt Disney on Destino, and with Alfred Hitchcock in the famous dreamlike sequences in Spellbound. For Italian designer Elsa Schiaperelli, Dali designed a hat shaped like a shoe and a pink belt having a buckle in the shape of lips. He is also said to have collaborated with Christian Dior on a perfume called 2045 that will hopefully be revealed to all in the said year. Dali has even designed Lligat House in Cadaques, where he and his wife lived for some years (Gibson, 23). The High Points of the Surrealist Movement Surrealism became immensely popular in the 1930s. Perhaps 1936 was the best year for surrealist art. It is in this year that the London Surrealist Movement Exhibition was held and the Museum of Modern Art in New York also showed the exhibition Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism. When a new International Surrealist Exhibition was held in Paris in 1938, Salvador Dali’s ‘Rainy Taxi’ exhibit was placed at the entrance. This comprised of an old taxi rigged to produce a steady drizzle of water down the inside of the windows, with a shark-headed creature placed in the driver's seat and a blond mannequin crawling with live snails in the back. Even the floor was covered with dead leaves, grasses and fern. The lighting was deliberately kept to a single bulb and guests were given torches with which to view the art. The surrealists had managed to shock the viewing audience here too- they had triumphed and decidedly so. The Impact of Surrealism on Art Given that surrealists were always anti-establishment, surrealists have favored partnerships with anarchist and communist movements. Salvador Dali has changed his affiliations and stances many times during his career, proclaiming himself an anarchist, communist and even the face of the surrealist movement. He was once called in by Andre Breton to explain his political affiliations. Anti-establishment or whatever, it is true that Surrealism has played its part in modern art and architecture to shock, enlighten and amuse the onlooker. At times it feels tremendously absurd but so then does most of abstract or modern art. The surrealist movement has given us all an opportunity to appreciate art that shows spontaneity, lack of preparedness and surprise. It is art without contrivance, yet behind it all is the stock purpose of astounding us all. Conclusion We have commented upon the life and times of Salvador Dali and his powerful influence on the Surrealist art movement. He was in many ways a versatile genius and his surviving works are a testament to this fact. Works Cited Breton, A. The Manifesto of Surrealism, 1924. Dali,S. The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, 1948. Gibson, I. The Shameful Life of Salvador Dali, 1997. Read More