Dali vs Picasso Paintings - Essay Example

Picasso was always flexible in his style and he was not following the style of cubism only, while Dali managed to create his way of surrealism and he was a devoted follower of this style. Therefore, the paintings of Dali reflect a complex and challenging way of the artist’s development and Picasso was in the searching of himself throughout his life.

Dali is a remarkable representative of the surrealist movement and Picasso is associated with cubism. Picasso could blend different styles in his paintings for proper self-expression of his art, while Dali was a follower of surrealism only. To my mind, Dali’s paintings are the most intriguing and it takes much time or even the whole life to penetrate the essence of his creative heritage. Nevertheless, by critics, the paintings of Picasso have always been more valuable in the market than the works of Dali. Picasso was able to switch from one style to another and the devotion of Dali to surrealism was not admired by critics at all. The market sets its trends and once a style is worn out, it is necessary to work in other styles, which are preferential in the market at a given moment. Picasso managed to work in compliance with these dynamic trends, but Dali was following his way and he did not want to betray it.

Thus, Dali chose judging and Picasso followed trends of perceiving, because the latter was aware of the current needs of the market of arts and the former was following his famous style of surrealism. Such kind of devotion of Dali resulted in his masterpieces because he managed to advance and update his techniques throughout his life. Picasso followed his political concerns and the oppressive regime of Franco made him leave Spain, while Dali was a politically tolerant artist and he did not interfere in politics at all (Bossy et al, 2001, p 45). Dali's paintings are greatly influencing modern media. It is hard to imagine the works by Andy Warhol without memorizing paintings of Dali, or it is hard to imagine a fashionable TV show without different stylistic hints at the great painter. Picasso is also remarkable for creating incredibly impressive paintings with the help of a line. There is a different modes of perception of cubism and surrealism, because the latter is like a reflection of life, of another reality et cetera, while cubism is a pure form of a painter's self-expression.

There is much symbolism in the paintings of Dali. To my mind, one of the greatest paintings of this great artist is The Persistence of Memory. Time is unstable and “soft watches”, which were depicted in this painting, reflect this concept. Salvador Dali told that he was painting for his inspiration and emotions. He wanted to create images, which will be the most remarkable for him. For example, the image of an egg implemented by Dali can be explained as a symbol of eternity, love, and hope. Moreover, there are many other symbols used by Dali, such as ants, signifying death, locusts, symbolizing despair and illnesses, and so on. Dali created his world and his vision intrigues his contemporaries. He dared to penetrate human minds and souls and he succeeded, otherwise, his images and symbols would not be so interesting to the audience. The most impressive features of Dali’s paintings are intriguing interlaces of lines, veiled human bodies, and animals. He shows that the life of a human being is on the edge of reality and it is impossible to draw a clear limit between different modes of human existence. There are no such outstanding and daring painters as Dali nowadays and there will be no in the future because he is the only one, who dares to challenge his destiny and become a posthumously acknowledged genius, whose contribution to the modern media was better acknowledged than his contribution to the art of painting.