Salvador DaliSalvador Dali(1904 – 1989)(1904 – 1989)

Surrealismexpression of the imagination as revealed in dreams, free of the conscious control of reason.

Biography :Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marqués de Dalí de Pubol was a surrealist painter.

Born on May 11, 1904 in Figueres, Spain (close to the French border).

At 18, he studied Art at the School of Fine Arts in Madrid.

He got a lot of attention because of his appearance.

He wore his hair long, with sideburns and wore knee length pants and stockings which were strange clothes for that time.

In 1924, he was expelled from the School of Fine Arts for saying that no one on the faculty of the school was competent to test him.

Also in 1924 in Paris he met Pablo Picasso, whom he admired and was influenced by.

Dali married a Russian girl, Gala and she has been depicted in many of his works.

He grew a wild moustache, which became a trademark of his personal look for the rest of his life.

Landscape around Figueres (1910)

His Paintings

The Persistence of Memory (1931)

His most famous painting, challenges the idea that time is rigid. It is also said to be an interpretation of Einstein’s theory of relativity–the warping of space &

time by gravity.

The Persistence of Memory (1931)

His most famous painting, challenges the idea that time is rigid. It is also said to be an interpretation of Einstein’s theory of relativity–the warping of space &

time by gravity.

Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man (1943)

The painting shows the man emerging from the egg to be "new" nation, United States, in the process of becoming a new world power. Africa and South America are both enlarged, representing the growing importance of the Third World, while Europe is being crushed by the man's hand, indicating its diminishing importance as an international power. Blood shows war.

Three Sphinxes of Bikini (1947)

Bikini Atoll was a string of islands where nuclear testing was done in the 1940s.

This painting is said to depict the three “heads” of humanity (the human head), Nature (the trees) and destruction (the mushroom cloud in the distance).

Premonition of Civil War (1936)

This painting expresses the destruction during the Spanish Civil War. The monster in this painting is self destructive just as a Civil War is

Swans reflecting elephants (1937)Swans reflecting elephants (1937)

Here, the three swans in front of bleak, leafless trees are reflected in the lake so that the swans' heads become the elephants' heads and the trees become the bodies of the elephants. In the background of the painting is a Catalonian landscape depicted in fiery fall colors, the brushwork creating swirls in the cliffs that surround the lake, to contrast with the stillness of the water

Les Elephants (1948)

The Temptation of St. Anthony, (1946)

Sleep (1937)

Said to depict a monster help up by the crutches of reality

His Style :

• Exploration of Colour Pallet

• Use of Optical Illusion

• Keeping personal trace in most of his paintings

•Exaggerated anatomy especially seen in his popular paintings of long legged elephants

•Dali employed extensive symbolism in his paintings

The Dali Atomicus, photo by Philippe Halsman (1948)

After World War II ended, he returned to Spain.

He had become interested in optical illusions as a way of creating false reality.

If you look closely at this photo, you can see the wires holding up the objects (something we can do now with computers!) Dalí himself is the man in mid air in the center of the photo.

As his health deteriorated in the 1980s, he was unable to continue working.

In 1982, King Juan Carlos of Spain bestowed upon him a title, making him the Marquis of Dalí de Púbol.The king visited Dalí in the hospital shortly before he died of heart failure on January 23, 1989. He is buried at the Dalí theatre and Museum in Figueres, Spain.

Thank You…

Presented by : Saptarshi Roy FPT/12/25 FP (Tech) – 1 NIFT, Kolkata