Dali's Bio
Salvador Dali, also known as Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali y Domenech is a reputable Spanish and he is perhaps well known for his artistic works such as the Persistence of Memory and the painting of melting clocks. On May 11, 1904, Dali was born in Figueres, Spain. Since his early age, he has been encouraged to practice the art and in the 1920s, he decided to travel to Paris where he interacted with reputable artists such as Miro, Magritte, and Picasso (Ranker, Sec.1). The interaction with these artists influenced him to develop his initial Surrealist phase. However, he was expelled from the Surrealist movement after Francisco Franco, a fascist leader, came to power in Spain (Bio Sec. 1). Dali never gave up on his career after expulsion because he continued painting until in 1980 when he retired from painting. A motor disorder the resulted in permanent weakness and trembling in his hands forced him to retire because he could not hold the brush anymore. However, he met his death on January 23, 1989, at the age of 84 in the city where he was born. Although Dali is gone, his artistic works and ideas still live with us.
Thesis: Salvador Dali was perhaps the most influential and best-known of the artists who came out of the dada/surrealism movement. His work Art Teaching (Surrealism and Dada) not only sums up the concepts and goals of these movements but also provides a connection with one of the greatest surrealists and dreamers to be found outside a painter's studio, the immortal Walt Disney
Dali's connection to Surrealism and Dadaism
A Spanish sculptor and painter, Joan Miro, along with painter Rene Magritte and poet Paul Eluard influenced Dali to join Surrealism in the late 1920s. During this time, Dali was proficient with styles of futurism, impressionism, and Cubism. His paintings later utilized three main themes: sexual symbolism, man's universe and sensations, and ideographic imagery. As a result, these themes led to the development of his first Surrealistic work in 1929. He integrated scrupulous classic technique and Renaissance artists influenced him. His fundamental contribution to the surrealism was "paranoiac-critical technique," which was a mental practice of utilizing subconscious to improve the artistic creativity (Bio Sec. 3).
One of the works that illustrate Dali's connection to surrealism is the Art Teaching painting. The painting expresses the dreams in imagination that is free of the conscious controls of convention and reason. One of the surrealistic technique depicted in this painting is the automation method where the artist avoids rationality and reason by accessing his/her unconscious mind. The image illustrates the unconscious mind of Dali by showing involuntary actions that are under the control of the dream. For instance, an image of a creature that appears to be a snake with a human head depicts the actions controlled by unconscious mind such as a dream. Other creature and images in this artwork appear not to be realistic and can only through imagination such creatures can be created.
The image also utilizes the surrealist imagery of visual descriptive figures. The imagery on the Art Teaching painting is weird and outlandish as the main figures represent a reptile with a human head and Mickey Mouse with a human head, which is unusual. The image on the right depicts a creature like a snake that cannot support it head and body. In addition, an image on the extreme left resembles the iconic picture of the Disney studio, but a closer look shows that the image has a ghost face with a long tongue. According to the surrealism, such technique is used to jolt the audience out of their comforting and rational assumptions. Such techniques also illustrate how the artistic work was provoked by a dream or was established from subconscious relationships between their meanings and images. Therefore, this illustrates that Dali was among the greatest dreamers and surrealists.
The Art Teaching painting also utilizes some of the main theories of the Dada movement. For instance, the focus of Dali was not to create an aesthetically pleasing painting but to create an object that mocks the materialistic attitudes of the audience. The art constitutes of unpleasing, unattractive, and abnormal images that make the audience generate question regarding the purpose of this art and the role of the artist. For instance, why the artist created an image of a snake with a human head and its entire body is suspended with the supporting posts? What was the intention of the artist, and what was the role of the object in the society? In the background of the main objects, there are other unattractive objects, which topples the bourgeois sensibilities. It is not straightforward to predict what intent of the artist.
The Art Teaching painting can also be termed as Dada artistic material because it contains the readymade objects, which contain little manipulation by the artist. According to The Art Story article, one of the characteristic that identifies the Dada artists is the utilization of the readymade objects (Sec.2). One of the readymade object in this painting is the Mickey Mouse character, which is a cartoon created by Walt Disney. However, Dali has made some little modification on the object by introducing the head of the human being (Walt Disney) on the Mickey Mouse. The aim of the artists was to challenge the Disney and to question the role of the artist when he created it. However, it can be perceived as if Dali intended to insert the possession context on his artwork. Another readymade object in the Dali's painting is the Disney Studio tower. Dali does not only offend the audience by manipulating this image but also offend the artist who created it. The modification made to this tower does not make it look aesthetically pleasing but unattractive and ghost-like. The object has a ghost-like face and a tongue that protrudes from the mouth, which was meant to be a door. Therefore, the unpleasing, unattractive, abnormal, and readymade objects in this painting give Dali the qualities of Dada artist. The design of the ghost-like on the Dali's work is an inconsequential and intransigent mockery of the perception held by the society that cultural monument represents things that are everlasting or immortal. Therefore, this represents the Dada artistic, which is designed to be short-lived and ghost-like.
Dali's connection to/collaboration with other artists
One of the surrealistic work of Dali is the Art Teaching (Surrealism and Dada) painting that provides an illustration of Salvador Dali and Walt Disney. The painting reflects the intellectual of two artists that have different perspectives in their artistic work. On one hand, the art depicts Walt Disney on left with an image that illustrates his proficient as a cartoonist. The image depicts the Mickey Mouse character with the head of Walt Disney. Mickey Mouse is one of the well-known cartoon character developed by the Walt Disney studio. On the other hand, Dali is depicted on the right as an image of a reptile with a human head. This reveals Dali's creativity of using the paranoiac-critical technique to develop a reality from his subconscious thoughts and dreams. As a result, this illustrates Dali's passion of surrealism as a rich source of his artistic creativity and imagery.
In general, the intellectual content of the "Art Teaching" image is the partnership between the surrealistic Salvador Dali and a reputable cartoonist, Walt Disney. The artwork depicts two innovative and renowned visionaries who had a boundless imagination that show the indefinite distinction between reality and dream. The image does illustrated not only the partnership between these innovators but also the long lasting friendship. In other words, this artistic work depicts the connection and collaboration with other artists and specifically Walt Disney. According to Liedtke (Sec.1), they enhanced their partnership when they met at a Hollywood dinner party in 1945. The two architects collaborated to produce a short animation film known as "Destino," a Spanish name meaning "destiny." However, during the production of the storyboards and sketches for the film, the two artists developed professional difference. In an interview in 1946, Dali said that "Destino" was about "a magical exposition of life in the labyrinth of time" (Liedtke Sec.1). Contrary Disney described the film as a modest love story between a girl and a boy. Despite this professional split, the two artists maintained their friendship and used to visit each other in their homes.
Dali's best works
One of the renowned work of the surrealistic art is the Dali's "The Persistence of Memory," which was completed in 1931 (Iadsai, Par. 2). The painting utilizes his recognized method known as "paranoiac-critical method." In this printing, the audience can see a deserted place that seems to be on the person's psyche rather than the physical world. The image also contains crawling eating the hands of the clock and the clocks that are melting. Another reputable Dali's painting is "the Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee." Dali painted this image during his stay in America showing the image of his nude wife, Gala, who was dreaming of disturbing tigers and bee. Another artwork is "The Crucifixion" that employs the creative 3D features and features his wife, Gala looking up to the cross. Other recognized works involves "The Swans Reflecting Elephants," "Soft Construction with Beans," "The Leda Atomica," "The Basket of Bread," "The Apparatus and Hand" and "The Great Masturbator" among others.
In terms of commercial value, “Portrait de Paul Eluard” is the most expensive art costing $22.4 million followed by “Printemps Necrophilique” that cost $16.3 million. Other portrait such as “Enigmatic Elements in a Landscape,” “Study for ‘Honey is Sweeter than Blood,’” “Night Specter on the Beach,” and portrait of Dali’s naked wife looking at her body cost $11, $6.8, $, 5.68, and $4.76 million respectively (Drughi, Sec. 1).
Dali's historical reputation
Salvador Dali is one of the most reputable and versatile artists in the twentieth century. Although this innovator is well known for his painting arts, he is also known for his work in fashion, printmaking, writing, advertising, and filmmaking. Dali is recognized for his flamboyant lifestyle accompanied by mustache signature and his undisputable technical virtuosity. Renowned artists such as Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso influenced his work. His fascinating painting also integrated the Renaissance, and Classical art makes his work reputable (The Art Story, Sec 2). Although his was formally expelled from the Surrealist movement, his work is often associated with this movement among other movements such as Dada. For instance, the Teaching of Art painting is associated with both Dada and Surrealist movements. In addition, his works such as this painting are associated with visual and formal language that show imagination of his hallucinations and dreams (The Art Story, Sec 2).
Dali's relation with Disney
Although born in different parts of the World, 1990s upbringing shaped Disney and Dali's young imaginations and caused their careers, legacies, and lives to be paralleled. On the surface, the two reputable icons appear to be moving on the opposite side, but a deeper analysis of their live and artistic works makes them a dreamer and the surrealist. The two innovators were in the boundless imagination that show the indefinite distinction between reality and dream. As illustrated by his work shown above, Dali was a dreamer and a surrealist. On the other hand, the surrealistic quality depicted by their collaboration of their artistic work of "Fantasia," with Dali. In 1945, Disney invited Dali to design an animated short movie that applied the surrealistic qualities. However, Dali chose the "Destino" title because it was a Spanish word meaning "destiny," and this rekindled his imaginations. In this case, it is evident that Dali influenced Disney into the surrealistic movement as was illustrated by their collaborative work. This might be the reason behind the Art Teaching (Surrealism and Dada) painting. The painting illustrates an imagination form of both Disney and Dali.
While Disney is well renowned as an animation pioneer while Deli was a surrealistic and innovative artist, and both embraced the emerging cinema and art forms. However, there was difference in the factors that influenced their artistic works in films. For instance, factors such as technological development in sounds, camera, and special effects influenced the motion pictures and consequently facilitated Disney's film works. On the other hand, factors such as modernism, improvisational jazz, optical effects, and complex aesthetics of machines facilitated poetic work that influenced Deli. However, both innovators considered balancing between art and technology to enhance their craft. Such factor also influenced the connection between the two renowned artists (The Walt Disney Family Museum, Sec. 1). Despite their difference in their practices, Dali and Disney have a great connection that facilitated their friendship as illustrated in Salvador Dali's painting illustrated above.
Conclusion
As indicated above, it is evident that Salvador Dali was perhaps the most influential and best known of the artists who came out of the dada/surrealism movement. One of these surrealists and dreamers is the remarkable Walt Disney. As explained, this work is considered to contain both works of Surrealism and Dada. The work qualifies to be surrealistic because it contains theories such as automation method that show involuntary actions in the work, which are under the control of the dream. In addition, the artwork is weird and outlandish. On the other hand, the work contains Dadaism because it constitutes of unpleasing, unattractive, and abnormal images that make the audience generate question regarding the purpose of this art and the role of the artist. The art also has readymade objects, which contain little manipulation by the artist. The two faced of the main object in the image represent Walt Disney and Salvador Dali showing the connection between these artists. Therefore, his work Art Teaching (Surrealism and Dada) not only sums up the concepts and goals of these movements but also provides a connection with one of the greatest surrealists and dreamers.
Works Cited
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