The Weaning of Furniture - Nutrition (1934)

Dali's Birthplace 10 Monturiol Street, Figures, Spain

Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali i Domenech was born at 8:45 on the morning of

May 11, 1904, in the small agricultural town of Figueres, Spain, in the

foothills of the Pyrenees, only sixteen miles from the French border in the

principality of Catalonia. The son of a prosperous notary, he spent his

boyhood in Figueres and at the family's summer home in the coastal fishing

village of Cadaques where his parents built his first studio. As an adult,

he made his home with his wife Gala in nearby Port Lligat.

The young Dali attended the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid.

Early recognition of Dali's talent came with his first one-man show, held in

Barcelona in 1925. He became internationally known when three of his

paintings, including the Basket of Bread (now in the Salvador Dali

Collection) were shown in the third annual Carnegie International Exhibition

in Pittsburgh in 1928.

The following year Dali held his first one-man show in Paris. He also joined

the Paris Surrealist Group, led by former Dadaist, Andre Breton. That year

Dali met Gala Eluard when she visited him in Cadaques with her husband, poet

Paul Eluard. She became Dali's lover, muse, business manager, and chief

inspiration.

Dali soon became a leader of the Surrealist Movement. His painting,

Persistence of Memory (1931), is still one of the best known surrealist

works. But, as war approached, the apolitical Dali clashed with the

Surrealists and was expelled from the Surrealist movement during a "trial"

in 1934. He did, however, exhibit works in international surrealist

exhibitions throughout the decade.

The Persistence of Memory, 1931  

By 1940 Dali was moving into a new style which eventually became known as

his "classic" period, demonstrating a preoccupation with science and religion.

Dali and Gala escaped from Europe during World War II, spending 1940-48 in

the United States. These were very important years for the artist. The

Museum of Modern Art in New York gave Dali his first major retrospective

exhibit in 1941. This was followed in 1942 by the publication of Dali's

autobiography, The Secret Life of Salvador Dali.

Pencil Drawing for The Secret Life of Salvador Dali

As Dali moved away from Surrealism and into his classic period, he began his

series of 18 large canvases, many concerning scientific, historical or

religious themes. Among the best-known of these works are The Hallucinogenic

Toreador and The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in the

Collection and The Sacrament of the Last Supper in the collection of the

National Gallery in Washington D.C.

In 1974 Dali opened the Teatro Museo Dali in Figueres, Spain. This was

followed by retrospectives in Paris and London at the end of the decade.

After the death of his wife, Gala, in 1982, Dali's health began to fail. It

deteriorated further after he was burned in a fire in his home in Pubol in

1984. Two years later, a pacemaker was implanted. Much of this part of his

life was spent in seclusion, first in Pubol and later in his apartments at

the Torre Galatea, adjacent to the Teatro Museo. Dali died January 23, 1989

in Figueres from heart failure with respiratory complications.

Spain, 1938

 Dali's Psychic Force

By Don Estrella, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Salvadore Dali. Dali is eccentric. Dali is a genius.

Dali is a clown. Dali is bizarre. Dali is also mystic

and without our consciously realizing it, Dali has

always relied upon the psyche to guide his

paintings.

The world has long regarded Salvidor Dali as the

finest exponent of surrealistic art of this century.

They have, moreover, lauded his artistic

craftsmanship and technique, been amused by his

umoristic touches and forgiven his other light

erotic fantasies in the name of art. The art world

and the general public have never, however, taken

serious note of, nor looked intently enough with an

objective eye into Dali's compositions. The "inner

quality" or "heart" of Dali's painting, which he

refers to as the "paranoia-critica" is actually the

deep superconscious which Dali exhausts, bringing

these, his hyperthoughts onto canvas for us to

appreciate.

The "paranoia-critica" or hallucinatory theme is

actually Dali's psychic mind. Dali has the ability to

delve more deeply into it than most of us and bring

substance of it into our third dimensional reality.

For the sake of sensationalism (Dali being a clever

showman and salesman), employs other terms

rather than his "paranoia-critica" for want of

better expression of the force behind his portrayals.

Among them are his references to the cosmos:

"All my painting is only a portion of my

cosmogony..." his symbolic gourmandism and

cannibalism..."Awareness of reality by means of the

jaws"...and: "What does spirituality consist of?

Can it be eaten?" ...and: "The sublime

fundamental law of our Catholic, apolostolic,

Roman and Roumanian religion: To swallow the

living God."

The utterances by Dali, can, of course, be analyzed

In a myriad of approaches, as can interpretation of

the symbolism which sometimes masks Dali's

compositions. However, the "paranoia-critica" or

hallucinatory fine line between this dimension and

others, into which Dali lucidly stretches his mind is

the keypoint to his success and most indicative of

his constant touch with the psychic. Dali's

statements of plunging into his sub and

superconscious is, of course, just that. Our

superconscious is, most naturally, one of our most

immediate realms of the psychic.

Contemplating Dali's more serious works which

bear psychic influence appeared to come into

creation during his phase in the 1930s. We are

immediately attracted to the ethereal quality of his

works which other surrealists attempt to execute

but are unable to duplicate. His works are not mere

collages but in reality, a mirror of how our

thoughts and impressions are imprinted, infused

and entwined onto the skeins of time and space and

how they would appear if we were able to

photograph or record them for our physical, third

dimensional eyes for evaluation.

It has been stated that Dali, ill and elderly, was

suffering from years of strain through exhaustion

by his means of touching the super-psychic

consciousness for his paintings. This may be so.

Intent study of his work will realize not only the

symbolism but a veritable "photograph? of a

thought or a vision.

The Works of Salvador Dali

Viewing Dali's "Ecumenical Council," we see a

thought as it would appear, when summoned to our

minds from the superconscious psychic realm. The

impressions we receive during our thought

processes are intertwined with all other objects,

items or other thoughts relevant to that particular

prime or main subject on which we wish to focus. In

the "Ecumenical Council," the important feature

demanding attention which strikes us is the

spiritual theme or body of the Supreme Being, this

embodied as a naked male, superseding all through

the nebulous etheric haze, it emerges from a

classical alcove of the Vatican, seat of Christianity

for the Catholic. To the lower left of the Creator,

the vague face of a saintly personage whose body is

composed of a turmoil of crosses. To the right of the

Creator, the face and figure of the Christ is all but

lost in its diffusion, save but for the prominent

figure of the dove; the Holy Spirit above it. Below,

the Ecumenical Council in small proportion, tiny,

menial, humanistic, lost in methodical meaningless

tradition confuse the thought, scattering it

throughout and arises through the earthly planes of

the mountains and water at the lower right

foreground of the painting.

Gala, Dali's wife (whom he calls his Divine Twin),

symbolizes in a realistic, defined figure, holding a

cross,t he true spiritual soul in humanly form,

overshadowing the vagueness and confusion of the

Ecumenical Council. To the left, below, we find

Dali, looking directly, knowingly to us, his eyes

telling us of those, his prophetic and psychic vision.

Not merely his signature, but as the most vivid and

closest figure on the canvas, a third dimensional

one, facing the vision of this, his psychic thought.

lorraine@esotericworldnews.com  

Hort del Llane, Cadaques (1918-1919 )
This is a pathway leading up to the summer home
in Cadaques Spain.

Ant's symbolize a decay of whatever the obgect is they are on

Gag flies towards an object mean they will fight off or repel the object. If the gagflies are running away

from something they were unable to fight them off.

Daddy longlegs mean good luck or hope.

A child in a sailors suit represent Dali himself as a child, often you will see a man nearby (his father).

Soft watches (melting watch) shows Dali's inability of time to loosen the tenacious grip of memory on the

imagination.

View of Cadaques with Shadow of Mount Pani, 1917

Although most surrealist artist were influenced to one degree or another by Sigmund Freud's theories of dreams and the subconscious, none embrace his ideas so fervently as did Spanish painter Salvador Dali. Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams seemed to Dali a revolation, since for him it represented a scientific explanation for the torments and erotic fantasies he claimed to have experienced ever since childhood. His subsequent fascination with psychoanalysis at once affected his approach to his art.
But while most surrealist depicted the images from the subconscious - which Freud had defined as uncontrolled by conscious reason - in more or less lyric terms, Dali wanted to document them with scientific accuracy.

(More To Come...)

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Portrait of Picasso, 1947
(something tells me Dali didn't like P. Picasso very much)

The Surrealism of Salvador Dali, who joined the Surrealist movement in 1929, is supremely realistic; his subjects tend to be nightmarish. His goal was to represent the world of dreams as vividly as possible, or as he explained, to employ the "paranomic-critical" method to make "portraits of hallucinations." By means of optical realism, along with vivid imagination, hallucinations like the one in Soft Construction with Boiled Beans: Premonition of Civil War are given the credibility of photographs.

Dali's Surrealism tends to provoke, even to shock rather than to disturb.

Daddy Longlegs of the Evening...Hope!

Llaner Beach in Cadaques, 1921

Geological Justice, 1936

The Endless Enigma, 1938

Can you spot the Philosopher reclining, Mythological Beast, Greyhound, Face of the Great Cyclopean Cretin, Mandolin, Compotier, Figs on the table, and a Woman seen from the back mending a sail.

Sent to me Feb 3 2001, from VizeyeMarketing@aol.com

Dali's obscure comrade

Do you know that Salvador Dali had a very close friendship with an

African-American man who acted as Dali's rep., during the 60's. Reginald

Simmons represented Dali in NY, at the United Nations in 1966 where he

presented The Salvador Dali Cachet UNICEF design to the then UN Secretary

General Uthant. It is said that on that same occasion Basil Rathbone was

presiding at the presentation.

Who was this Mr. Simmons?

Mr. Simmons has represented Dali in Stockholm at the Konkst Academy and at

the Museum of Fine Arts Montreal Canada.

It occurs to me that during Black History Month it would merit some looking

into. Reginald Simmons' face and body parts are featured in the Dali painting

entitled The "Battle of Tetuan?" Mr. Simmons is depicted as the Moor that is

leading the battle against Dali, the Spaniard. He is still living. Mr.

Simmons has insight to Dali that few still living have, and has much to share

on his friendship with Dali. This could prove interesting, and this is a bit

of history that should be made known to the so called Dalinians and to the

black community for socio-educational and artistic edification. This to me

falls into the category of African-Americans who although instrumental in

matters of politics, exploration, science, religion and in this case the

arts, were kept in virtual obscurity.

Such as: Lewis Howard Latimer, Latimer was the only African-American member

of Thomas Edison's engineering laboratory.

Or Matthew Alexander Henson, who was the only African-American to accompany

Robert E. Peary as personal assistant, dog driver, and interpreter on

numerous expeditions to the Arctic.

Mr. Simmons is in the process of a Docu/Art documentary on Dali that will

give the viewer an introduction to the mind of Dali from the intimate

knowledge of a friend and comrade.

Your can write Mr. Simmons at:

510 Main Street Suite 1914

Roosevelt Island, NY 10044

Dali's Family Home at Playa d'es Llaners, Cadaqués, Spain

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