As much a part of Spain’s history as political upheaval, artistic expression has played a supportive role in the development of Spain’s national identity. From artists such as El Greco to Velazquez to Picasso, Spanish artists contributed much to the end of The Renaissance period, to the initiation of the Baroque Era, and to art forms such as cubism. However, no one Spanish artist ever garnered as much personal attention as did Catalonian, Salvador Dali. Dail is included on this page for many reasons-not only was he an endlessly unique and complex individual, but his ideals closely parallel those of Spain as a nation. Somewhat eccentric and mysterious, Dali's rejection of establishment and social control are reminiscent of the Spain of the 20th century. More than just another painter, Dali pushed the envelope of artistic expression, and most of all, reinitiated thought surrounding the art of painting.
-Dali's Persistence of Memory
A modern surrealist, Dali was born on May 11, 1904. Rejected from academia due to his lack of attention and over-pompous ways, Dali experimented with many forms of artistic media before meeting with Pablo Picasso in 1926. While in school, Dali’s cubist works were most popular among his peers and he experimented with the style as he developed his own. Though he tasted movements such as avant-garde and attempted styles influenced by the classically academic, Dali eventually found his place with surrealism. One of Dali’s most famous works and one of his first influenced by surrealism, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in 1931.
-Salvador Dali
However, even as Dali was well respected within his group of Spanish surrealists, his obsession with Hitler after the end of the Spanish Civil War and the beginning of WWII was met with disapproval. Still, only after verbally supporting Francisco Franco’s post-war government did Dali’s surrealist group disown him. Unaffected by this turn of events, Dali experimented the rest of his life with media that personally interested him. After experimenting with pop art, Andy Warhol later claimed that Dali had a vast influence on the style.
Influenced by the mathematical logic of physics, most of Dali’s later works represent this interest, even forcing him to reevaluate some his earlier paintings (such as 1954s The Disintegration of The Persistence of Memory). While adopting these new mathematical ideals and logic, Dali also began to shy away from the psychological aspects of many of his earlier paintings.
-Salvador Dali Museum, Figueres, Catalonia, Spain (decorated with symbols from Dali's works)
Though widely known for his works of art, most of Dali’s fans recognize him for his often eccentric and bombastic ways. From taking the pens of those desiring autographs to referencing himself in the third person during television appearances, Dali’s personality will always stand along side his work and to the understanding of him as an individual. When he died on January 23, 1989, he left behind over 1,500 works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, short films, an animated cartoon collaboration with Walt Disney, book illustrations, and even theatre set designs. Dali’s work, partly due to his long life span, crosses generational boundaries and inspires the creativity within everyone. If one thing is for certain, it is that Dali always went out of his way to create the unexpected.
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