Salvador Dali's Galarina - Research Paper Example

Salvador Dalis Galarina Salvador Dali is an artist who engaged in various activities including painting and film work. He is famous for his surrealist works that have striking and bizarre images. There are a lot of remarkable paintings that Dali did one of which is Galarina, a painting he did between 1944 and 1945 in the United States. At this time, Dali was about three years into marriage with his wife Elena. Dali produced the painting Galarina, as an oil on canvas painting with dimensions of 66 by 51 cm1. The painting features a woman in her middle age known as Galarina, a woman that Dali loved so much and married. Dali named the painting Galarina but the actual name of the woman featured in the painting was Elena Dmitrievna Diakonova, also known as Gala Dali2. Galarina has featured in the Dali Theatre-Museum, Olgas Gallery among other areas. The image has been reproduced in large quantities and is available for sale in many exhibitions. Online, the image is also reproduced in many galleries including digilander.libero.it and Salvador-Dali.org. However, the original painting done by Salvador has been preserved in Catalonia, Spain, Teatre Museu Gala in Figueres. As formerly noted, Galarina was produced by Salvador Dali, a famous Spanish Catalan artist. The artist, born in Figueres had a talent in painting or drafting striking images associated with surrealism3. Dali’s painting skills were influenced by prominent Renaissance painters. Dali’s passion for excessive and gilded things abounds owing to his love and passion for luxury and oriental attire. Dali claims that his lineage can be traced to the Arabic world having specifically descended from the Moors4. The artist was highly imaginative and had great interest in engaging his imagination in creating unusual images and in participating in grandiose behavior. As can be seen from the painting of Galarina, Dali is one who is eccentric and seeks to capture the attention of his audience. Gala Dalí, the woman featured in the painting was his wife. Dali used Gala as a model in his work, a move that many artists and historians claim was meant to show his undying love for her. The basis of this was his statement “I named this painting Galarina because Gala is for me that La Fornarina was to Raphael”4. Others claim that the painting of Gala in her middle-age is a very affectionate depiction, in Western art, of the middle-aged damsel. The painting of Galarina was done during the classical period in America immediately preceding the end of World War Two. It was completed in slightly over six months as noted by the artist: “it took me six months of working three hours a day to finish this portrait”1. The painting, according to the artist, was done at a time when he first discovered how well to paint; by practicing both under painting and over painting. The painting of Galarina according to many critics has better tonalities compared to earlier works by Salvador Dali. Analysis of Galarina The painting has a mixture of smooth and rough texture. When painting Galarina, Dali concentrated on the face, chest and hands of Elena. For a typical woman these parts are most likely to be the smoother than other parts of the body. In order to bring out a smooth texture, Dali used fewer lines on these regions. Another successful use of lines to depict texture can be seen on the, eyes, nose, mouth, neck and upper chest region. Dali has used more lines to bring out the varied anatomies of these regions which create a general rough texture. There are fewer lines on the bare chest region and the exposed breast of he woman being represented compared to the lines on the clothing denoting a difference in their textures. Naturally, we expect that the skin of a woman should be smoother than a piece of cloth. Variation in shading has also been used to bring out the varied textures of the painting. For example Dali used light shading on the forehead and the exposed chest region to bring out their smooth texture. Contrastingly, he has used darker shading on the nipple of the exposed breast to bring out the expected rough texture of a nipple. The texture of the hair of the woman has also been presented using shading. Though they were black in color, Dali has used some patches of light shading to show that they are smooth. . Smooth surfaces normally reflect color hence their shinny look*5. In arts, variety refers to the use of contrasting types of elements on a piece of work. Salvador was able to achieve contrast in the painting on the face region and the wrist with a serpent using conflicting colors. The painting is generally bright but the eyes, serpent and the hair of the woman have been painted using dark colors. The main feature in the painting is the woman and Dali has been able to bring it out well by painting her surrounding with very dark colors and this shows a good use of contrast. As an element of art, lines are normally used to depict the distance between to points. They are also used to define the shape of the whole art work or parts of it 6. In this painting, Dali was successful in bringing out different shapes in the art work using lines. For example, he has used a big but less visible line to below the exposed breast to portray its shape. Looking at the neck region, Dali has used more but shorter lines to bring out the various anatomies of a neck and upper chest region. He as also used lines to bring out the shapes of various features of the woman in the painting. For example the well outlined fingers, arms and facial features. When developing a piece of work, artists are supposed to maintain a good arrangement of elements such that no part their product seems heavier or overpowers the other. This means that a balanced work should be symmetrical6. Looking at Dali’s Galarina painting, the work deserves a good rating on the creation of balance. A good example from the painting is balance in light. The woman in the painting is being illuminated from a source of light coming from above her head. This illumination has been focused mainly on the central part of the working space where the woman is hence the difference in light between the two halves of the painting is less. There is also a balance in texture and used of space in the painting. The function of emphasis is to draw the attention of a viewer to some parts of art work through manipulation of elements of art in that region5. In Galarina, the use of emphasis has been well achieved on the face, the chest, and the arm that has a serpent wound on it. For example, Salvador Dali has created emphasis on the chest by shading the nipple of the exposed breast using a darker color. This has made the nipple to be eye-catching even to a viewer who could not have been interested at it. He has also used darker color in painting the serpent. Emphasis on the face has been achieved by shading the face and the hair using very contrasting colors. The dark background has created a general emphasis on the woman unlike when Dali could have used a bright background. In terms of proportion, the work is of good quality because there are no features that are of very contrasting sizes compared to the rest. For example, the size of the serpent as an ornament is of good proportion to the size of the arm or wrist. Dali made a quality use of color in his painting, Galarina. He highlighted the woman using bright color except on the head. From the painting, it is notable that the woman was in a dark place and the visibility of her features was made possible through an illumination from above. Salvador had painted Galarina as a way of expressing his love for this woman and to depict her as the superstar he claims she is4. Therefore, the use of this bright color does not contradict his feelings or view about the woman. Every piece of art has a space defined by its foreground, background and middle ground components which can be categorized as negative space or positive space *. There is a good and balanced use of space in Galarina. The woman is located in the middle ground and central position. This has allowed a balance in the negative and positive spaces of the painting. Rhythm is defined as the depiction of consistency of lines or colors in a piece of art work. This repetition of elements is supposed to indicate movement6. In the painting, rhythm mainly was achieved in the arms region but not so much on the chest region. Surrealism is the stylistic movement that characterizes Dali’s work. He adopted this style after meeting with the Surrealists in 1928 in Paris after which he sought to change his life. He settled on this style in an effort to improve the techniques he had used earlier on yet they did not gain him any fame. These styles included Cubism, Neo-Cubism, Futurism and Pointillism. Dali used surrealism to seek the fulfillment of his mental and social life needs. Surrealism allowed him change how the world viewed art and to express his heroic feelings7. The portrait of Galarina reveals Gala’s face as being confrontational and severe. One of Gala’s breast is laid bare and depicts bread going by the artist’s statement “And without premeditation, here is the bread again” 4 The serpent on her arm is a gift that was given by Edward James to Dali during the time that the former sponsored the artist. Further analysis of the image reveals that there is a semblance between Gala’s arms which are crossed and the sides of the bread basket. Her breast on the other hand appears to form the extreme end of the crust. Generally, Salvador Dali’s Galarina painting deserves a good artistic rating. He has been able to utilize and bring out the various elements of art like shape, texture, color, lines, contrast, balance, proportion and emphasis. Through surrealism, Dali has been able to bring out his extra-ordinarily rich imaginary baggage and by 1929, he was the leader of surrealism. Despite critics, Salvador Dali managed to capture the attention of viewers through Galarina and his other paintings just as his attention-grabbing public actions and eccentric manner captured the attention of the public. Bibliography Arnheim, R (1974). Art and Visual Perception. A Psychology of the Creative Eye. Online. http://www.scribd.com/doc/7473733/Principles-of-Art. Viewed 23rd April, 2011 Lozano, C. (2000) Sex, Surrealism, Dalí, and Me. UK. Razor Books Ltd. Dalí, S. (1948). The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí. London. Vision Press. Numis Collect. Spain - 2009 - 400 euro - Salvador Dali Galarina. 2011. Online. http://www.numiscollect.eu/index.php?task=product&p_id=15642&prev_id=933&c_id=933 Viewed 23rd April, 2011. Peterson, B. (1988). Learning to See Creatively. New York. Watson-Guptill Publications. Sabler, L. (2004). "Dalí". London. Haus Publishing. Saladyga, F. (2006). "The Mindset of Salvador Dalí". Lamplighter (Niagara University). (3) pp 12-15. Read More