You Can Hire an Artist

Salvador Dali is known around the world for his surrealistic art, but he is probably equally as well known for his larger-than-life style.  Not only for the super mustache, which grew in length  and animation as he aged, but for his dapper dress and shocking antics.  Most photos show him mugging for the camera with high drama and flair.  Dali lived and played to the extreme.  His activity was well documented, and it is most likely that he had arranged for the self-promotion.  A self-proclaimed genius, all aspects of Dali’s activity seemed geared towards creating fame for himself and he succeeded.    As a result, during his lifetime his celebrity perhaps upstaged his art work.   Or maybe they were one in the same for him.

 

Dali often chose accessories for added effect.  Often over the top, still he managed to maintain an aura of elegance.  But perhaps that is easily done with a full head of hair and a tie; pets and walking sticks may be secondary.  No sloppy tee shirts here.

Dali’s wife Gala also got into the act and was often his muse.  It is said that she was the driving force behind the international acclaim of Dali.  They often appeared together as an attraction and she knew how to dress the part. 

When I began research for this article my idea of Dali was more as a celebrity and show-off, whose life and  bizarre subject matter were the attraction rather than his abilities as a artist.  I soon realized however what limited knowledge I had of his work.  And the more I learned the more impressed I became. 

Dali was a prolific artist who throughout his career remained true to his surrealist title.  He was able to express himself in many different ways – drawing, painting, sculpture, film, photography, performance art, and jewels.   The unconventional and sometimes scandalous nature of his subject matter with its nightmarish atmosphere was a part of  the surrealist cutting edge at the time.  But just like fashion, cutting edge art soon looks dated and then we must judge the work for its historical importance, intellectual, and artistic merits.  I was not a big fan of Dali, but I had always realized his importance in the scope of art history.  It is in having viewed his drawings and paintings afresh that I have found a new respect for Salvador Dali. 

There is no denying Dali was an adept draftsman.  His style is very much likened to classical art.  We also immediately recognize the work as modern because of its content and composition.  As for the content, much of it is identifiable and perhaps still shocking to some.   There is also a psychoanalytical iconography that I cannot be bothered with understanding.  For that reason sometimes the work just makes me impatient and want to be done with it.  (I supposed I’ve been around too long to be impressed by the bizarre.) 

Dali’s imagination had no bounds or censor.  Perhaps that was his ticket to success in a world that has become difficult to shock.   He certainly worked hard at it and enjoyed his life.  No matter what I think, Dali had his fame, fortune, and has his place in art history.  He was one of a kind.

 

-Kathleen Benton

(Click on images to enlarge and read details.  Click again to return to page.)

Salvador Dali, photograph.  Still looking for credits…possibly Carl Van Vetchen?

Martha Holmes (American, 1923-2006), Salvador Dali and Wife Gala in a Garden, 1945, Photograph, 17.8 x 14.4 inches, Life Magazine

Roger Higgins, Salvador Dali with Ocelot and Cane, 1965, Library of Congress, New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection

Philippe Halsman (Latvian, 1906-1979), from “Dali’s Moustache”, 1954, Photograph

André Caillet Fils, Paris (French, active 1930s), Gala wearing the shoe-hat created by Elsa Schiaparelli from a Salvador  Dali design, 1938, gelatin silver photograph, 23.0 x 28.6 cm, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dali, Figueres, © Salvador Dali, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali (Spanish, 1904-1989),  The Broken Bridge and the Dream, 1945, Oil on canvas, 26¼ x 34 3/16, Salvador Dali Museum, Florida

Salvador Dali,  Ascension, 1958, Oil on canvas, 115 x 123 cm., Private collection
 

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