Salvador Dali: paintings with names and descriptions. Salvador Dali: the best works of the artist

Well, here's a biography of Salvador Dali. Salvador is one of my favorite artists. I tried to add more dirty details of delicious interesting facts and quotes from friends from the master's entourage, which are not available on other sites. Available short biography artist's work - see navigation below. A lot is taken from the film Gabriella Flights "Biography of Salvador Dali", so be careful, spoilers!

When inspiration leaves me, I put my brush and paint aside and sit down to write something about the people I am inspired by. So it goes.

Salvador Dali biography. Table of contents.

Characters

The Dalis will spend the next eight years in the United States. Immediately upon arrival in America, Salvador and Gala threw a grandiose orgy of PR action. They had a costume party in a surreal style (Gala sat in a unicorn costume, hmm) and invited the most prominent people from the bohemian party of their time. Dali quite successfully began to exhibit in America, and his shocking antics were very fond of the American press and the bohemian crowd. What, what, but they have not yet seen such a virtuoso-artistic shiz.

In 1942, the surrealist publishes his autobiography " secret life Salvador Dali, written by himself. A book for unprepared minds will be slightly shocking, I say right away. It's worth reading though, it's interesting. Despite the obvious strangeness of the author, it is read quite easily and naturally. IMHO, Dali, as a writer, is pretty good, in his own way, of course.

However, despite the huge critical success, Gale again found it difficult to find buyers for the paintings. But everything changed when in 1943 a wealthy couple from Colorado visited the Dali exhibition - Reynold and Eleanor Mos became regular buyers of paintings by Salvador and family friends. The couple Mos acquired a quarter of all the paintings of Salvador Dali and later founded the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, but not in the one you thought, but in America, in Florida.

We started collecting his works, often met with Dali and Gala, and he liked us, because we liked his paintings. Gala also fell in love with us, but she had to maintain her reputation as a person with a difficult character, she was torn between sympathy for us and her reputation. (c) Eleanor Mos

Dali works closely as a designer, participating in the creation of jewelry and scenery. In 1945, Hitchcock invited the master to create scenery for his film Spellbound. Even Walt Disney was subdued magical world Dali. In 1946, he commissioned a cartoon that would introduce Americans to surrealism. True, the sketches came out so surreal that the cartoon will never appear at the box office, but later, it will still be finished. It's called Destino, a cartoon schizophasic, very beautiful, with high-quality art and worth it to watch, unlike the Andalusian dog (don't watch the dog, honestly).

Salvador Dali's quarrel with the surrealists.

While the entire artistic and intellectual community hated Franco, as he was a dictator who seized the republic by force. Dali nevertheless decided to go against popular opinion. (c) Antonio Pichot.

Dali was a monarchist, he talked with Franco and he told him that he was going to restore the monarchy. So Dali was for Franco. (c) Lady Moyne

The painting of El Salvador at this time acquires a particularly academic character. For the paintings of the master of this period, the classical component is especially characteristic, despite the obvious surreal plot. The maestro also paints landscapes and classical paintings without any surrealism. Many paintings also take on a distinctly religious character. Famous paintings by Salvador Dali of this time are Atomic Ice, The Last Supper, Christ of St. Juan de la Cruz, etc.

The prodigal son returned to the womb catholic church and in 1958 Dali and Gala got married. Dali was 54 years old, Galya 65. But, despite the wedding, their romance has changed. Gala turned Salvador Dali into world celebrity, but although their partnership was much more than business, Gala loved young stallions to stand for an hour without a break, and Salvadorich was no longer the same. He no longer looked like the sexless extravagant ephebe she had known before. Therefore, their relationship by that time had noticeably cooled off, and Gala was increasingly seen surrounded by young gigolos and without El Salvador.

Many thought that Dali was just a showman, but this is not so. He worked 18 hours a day, admiring the local landscapes. I think he was in general common man. (c) Lady Moyne.

Amanda Lear, Salvador Dali's second great love.

Salvador, who had been burning all his life with burning eyes, turned into a shaking, unfortunate animal with a driven look. Time spares no one.

Death of Gala, Surrealist's wife.

Soon the maestro was waiting for a new blow. In 1982, at the age of 88, Gala died of a heart attack. Despite the rather cool recent times relationship, Salvador Dali, with the death of Gala, lost his core, the basis of his existence, and became like an apple with a rotten core.

For Dali, this was the strongest blow. As if his world was falling apart. It's a terrible time. The time of the deepest depression. (c) Antonio Pichot.

After the death of Gala, Dali rolled downhill. He left for Pubol. (c) Lady Moyne.

The famous surrealist moved to a castle bought for his wife, where the traces of her former presence allowed him to somehow brighten up his existence.

I think it was big mistake retire to this castle, where he was surrounded by people who did not know him at all, but in this way Dali mourned Gala (c) Lady Moyne.

Once a famous party-goer, Salvador, whose house was always full of people drunk on pink champagne, turned into a recluse who allowed only close friends to visit him.

He said - well, let's meet, but in complete darkness. I don't want you to see how gray and old I've become. I want her to remember me young and beautiful (c) Amanda.

I was asked to visit him. He put a bottle of red wine on the table, a glass, put a chair, and he remained in the bedroom with the door closed. (c) Lady Moyne.

Fire and death of Salvador Dali

Fate, which had previously spoiled Dali with good luck, decided, as if in retaliation for all previous years, to throw a new misfortune to El Salvador. In 1984, a fire broke out in the castle. None of the nurses on duty around the clock responded to Dali's cries for help. When Dali was rescued, his body was 25 percent burned. Unfortunately, fate did not give easy for the artist death and he recovered, albeit emaciated and scarred from burns. Salvador's friends persuaded him to leave his castle and move to a museum in Figueres. Last years before his death, Salvador Dali spent surrounded by his art.

5 years later, Salvador Dali died in a hospital in Barcelona from cardiac arrest. So it goes.

Such an end seems too sad for a man who was overflowing with life and so different from others. He was incredible person. (c) Lady Moyne

You tell Vrubel and Van Gogh.

Salvador Dali enriched our lives not only with his paintings. I'm glad he let us get to know him so intimately. (c) Eleanor Mos

I felt that a huge, very significant part of my life had ended, as if I had lost my own father. (c) Amanda.

Meeting with Dali for many was a real discovery of a new vast world, unusual philosophy. Compared to him, all these contemporary artists who try to copy his style look pathetic. (c) Ultraviolet.

Before his death, Salvador Dali bequeathed to bury himself in his museum, surrounded by his works, under the feet of his admiring admirers.

Surely there are people who don't even know he's dead, they think he just doesn't work anymore. In a way, it doesn't matter if Dali is alive or dead. For pop culture, he is always alive. (c) Alice Cooper.

One of the most famous paintings, written in the genre of surrealism, is "The Persistence of Memory". Salvador Dali, the author of this painting, created it in just a few hours. The canvas is now in New York, at the Museum of Modern Art. This small painting, measuring only 24 by 33 centimeters, is the most discussed work of the artist.

Name Explanation

Salvador Dali's painting "The Persistence of Memory" was painted in 1931 on a handmade tapestry canvas. The idea of ​​​​creating this canvas was due to the fact that once, while waiting for the return of his wife Gala from the cinema, Salvador Dali painted an absolutely desert landscape of the sea coast. Suddenly, he saw on the table a piece of cheese melting in the sun, which they ate in the evening with friends. The cheese melted and became softer and softer. Thinking and connecting the long running time with a melting piece of cheese, Dali began to fill the canvas with spreading clocks. Salvador Dali called his work “The Persistence of Memory”, explaining the name by the fact that once you look at the picture, you will never forget it. Another name for the painting is "Flowing hours". This name is associated with the content of the canvas itself, which Salvador Dali put into it.

"The Persistence of Memory": a description of the painting

When you look at this canvas, the unusual placement and structure of the depicted objects immediately catches your eye. The picture shows the self-sufficiency of each of them and the general feeling of emptiness. There are a lot of seemingly unrelated items here, but they all create a general impression. What did Salvador Dali depict in the painting "The Persistence of Memory"? The description of all items takes up quite a lot of space.

The atmosphere of the painting "The Persistence of Memory"

Salvador Dali completed the painting in brown tones. The general shadow lies on the left side and middle of the picture, the sun falls on the back and right side of the canvas. The picture seems to be filled with quiet horror and fear of such calmness, and at the same time, a strange atmosphere fills The Persistence of Memory. Salvador Dali with this canvas makes you think about the meaning of time in the life of every person. About how, can time stop? And can it adapt to each of us? Probably, everyone should give himself the answers to these questions.

It is a known fact that the artist always left notes about his paintings in his diary. However, Salvador Dali did not say anything about the most famous painting, The Persistence of Memory. great artist initially understood that by painting this picture, he would make people think about the frailty of being in this world.

The influence of the canvas on a person

Salvador Dali's painting "The Persistence of Memory" was considered American psychologists who came to the conclusion that this canvas has the strongest psychological impact for certain types human personalities. Many people, looking at this painting by Salvador Dali, described their feelings. Most of people plunged into nostalgia, the rest tried to deal with the mixed emotions of general horror and thoughtfulness caused by the composition of the picture. The canvas conveys feelings, thoughts, experiences and attitudes towards the “softness and hardness” of the artist himself.

Of course, this picture is small in size, but it can be considered one of the greatest and most powerful psychological paintings by Salvador Dali. The painting "The Persistence of Memory" carries the greatness of the classics of surrealistic painting.

Salvador Dali (1904 - 1989) was Spanish artist, who is best known for his work in Surrealism, an influential 20th-century movement primarily in art and literature. The surrealist artist rejected the rational in art; and instead targeted the unconscious to unlock the power of the imagination. Dali used extensive symbolism in his work. Recurring images in his paintings show elephants with fragile legs; ants, which were considered a symbol of decay and death; and the melting of the clock, perhaps symbolic of the non-linear human perception of time. Dali's contribution to surrealism includes the paranoid-critical method. Dali became the most influential Surrealist painter; and perhaps the most famous artist of the twentieth century after Pablo Picasso.

In this article, we are ready to present you the most famous paintings Salvador Dali with their description and photo.

Dream caused by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate, a second before awakening

Salvador Dalí said that the piece was "for the first time to express in images Freud's discovery of the typical dream with a long story, the consequence of a momentary accident that causes the sleeping person to wake up." This is shown by the sleeping figure of the artist's wife, Gala Dali, floating above the rock. Next to her naked body, two drops of water, a pomegranate and a bee are also airborne. Gala's dream is caused by the buzzing of a bee and is depicted in the upper half of the canvas. In the sequence of images, the grenades open to release a giant red fish, from whose mouth two ferocious tigers appear along with a bayonet, which will soon awaken Gala from her peaceful sleep. The elephant, later a recurring image in Dali's work, is a distorted version of the "Elephant and Obelisk", a sculpture of the famous Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

giraffe on fire

The work "Giraffe on Fire" is considered as an expression of the personal struggle of Salvador Dali with the civil war taking place in his home country. The canvas depicts two female figures with indefinite phallic forms protruding from their backs. The arms, forearms, and face of the nearest figure are trimmed down to muscle tissue under the skin. On the contrary, drawers protruding from the figure's left leg and chest open. Salvador Dali was a big fan of the famous neurologist Sigmund Freud and some of Dali's paintings were influenced by Freudian theories. These open boxes can be attributed to Freud's psychoanalytic method and refer to the inner, subconscious within a person. live image the giraffe in the background was described by Dali as "a male cosmic apocalyptic monster". He considered it a premonition of war.

The paranoid-critical method is a Surrealist technique developed by Salvador Dali in the early 1930s. It was used by the artist to use his subconscious through systematic irrational thought and a self-induced paranoid state. Considered one of the main achievements of surrealism, Dali used it in several of his paintings, especially those associated with optical illusions and other multiple images. According to Greek mythology, Narcissus, known for his beauty, fell in love with his reflection in the water. Dali interprets Greek myth, this picture shows Narcissus sitting in the pool and looking down. The painting "Metamorphoses of Narcissus" was created by Dali during his paranoid-critical period and is one of his most famous works.

Swans reflected in elephants

Double images were an important part of Dalí's paranoid-critical method. Like Narcissus's Metamorphosis, this piece uses a reflection in a lake to create a double image. The three swans in front of the trees are reflected in the lake so that their necks become the elephants of the elephants and the trees become the legs of the elephants. The landscape contrasts with the stillness of the lake, as Dalí painted swirl-like images to depict the background rocks and skies. Swans reflecting elephants are considered an iconic painting in Surrealism as it boosts the popularity of the double image style. This is the most famous double image created by Salvador Dali; his greatest masterpiece using the paranoid-critical method; and one of the most famous works in surrealism.

This painting was created by Salvador Dali at the end of his famous career and is considered his last great masterpiece. He spent two summers to create artwork, in which, in addition to surrealism, he used such styles as action painting, pop art, pointillism, geometric abstraction and psychedelic art. Including depictions of ancient Greek sculpture in modern cinema, Fishing for Tuna depicts a fierce struggle between men and large fish as the epitome of a limited universe. The painting is dedicated to Jean-Louis Ernest Meissonier, French artist XIX century, known for its depictions of battle scenes. According to Dali, the work "Catching Tuna" is his most important work.

In 1929, Salvador Dali met his muse, who later became his wife. This canvas was created in the same year and is believed to reflect the erotic transformation that the artist underwent due to her arrival in his life. The main yellow area in the painting represents the artist's dream. From his mind emerges a vision, probably representing an erotic fantasy, of a naked female figure, reminiscent of his muse, drawn to the genitals of a man, presumably an artist. Like many of the author's works, the bizarre self-portrait also suffers from additives such as a fish hook, bleeding cuts, ants crawling across his face, and a grasshopper tied to his face. This work represents a glorification of something that is usually ridiculed and belongs to the most controversial paintings by Dali.

After atomic bombs backings Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Salvador Dali was inspired by nuclear physics and theories of the decay of the atom. This was also the time when he renewed his interest in Catholicism. Relegated to his period "Nuclear Mysticism", in which his writings often used ideas modern science as a means of rationalizing the Christian religion. Realizing that matter is made up of atoms, Dali forced his works to disintegrate into several atoms. This painting is a portrait of Gala Dali, his wife and muse. Her face is made up of densely populated spheres representing atomic particles, which lend a marvelous three-dimensional effect to the canvas. Galatea in the title refers to a sea nymph in classical mythology named Galatea, who was famous for her virtue. Galatea with spheres is one of the most famous paintings of Dalí's period of nuclear mysticism.

Christ of Saint John of the Cross

This painting is known as Christ of Saint John of the Cross because its design is based on a drawing by the 16th-century Spanish friar John of the Cross. The composition consists of a triangle, which is formed by the hands of Christ and the horizontal of the cross; and the circle, which is formed by the head of Christ. The triangle can be seen as a reference to the Holy Trinity, while the circle can represent unity, that is, all things exist in three. Although the painting is an image of the crucifixion, it is devoid of nails and blood. According to Dali, the inspiration for the painting came to him through a cosmic dream in which he was convinced that the image of nails and blood spoiled his image of Christ. Christ of St John of the Cross was chosen as Scotland's favorite painting in 2006 and is considered by many to be the greatest religious painting of the twentieth century.

Salvador Dali wrote this masterpiece half a year before the start of the Spanish Civil War. He claimed to have known about the war because of "the prophetic power of his subconscious". The painting reflects his anxiety at the time and foretells the horror and violence of war. It depicts two bodies, one darker than the other, in a terrible fight where neither is victorious. The monstrous being is self-destructive, just like a civil war. Dali made sure that the painting looked very realistic, despite the fantastic creature it depicts. The boiled beans in the painting, which are also mentioned in the title, are possibly an interpretation of the stew that was eaten by the poor citizens living in hard time in Spain. Considered one of Dalí's greatest masterpieces, the Boiled Bean Soft Construction is renowned for its unparalleled use of surrealism to depict the horrors of war.

In The Dream, Dali recreated the appearance of a large, soft head and an almost absent body. However, in this case, the face is not a self-portrait. Sleep and dreams are superiority in the realm of the unconscious. Crutches have always been Dalí's trademark, alluding to the fragility of the supporting sides that support "reality", but here nothing, not even the dog, seems to be inherently stable as it is propped up. Everything that is depicted on the canvas, except for the head, is bathed in a pale bluish light, complementing the feeling of alienation from the world of daylight and rationality. In The Dream, Salvador Dali returned to the classic surrealist motif. Dreams are the essence of many of Freud's theories because of their access to the unconscious, a pre-professional topic for surrealists, including Dali.

The Persistence of Memory

This iconic and replicated painting depicts a scene with a clock slowly melting on rocks and a tree branch, with the ocean as the backdrop. Dali used the concept of hard and soft in this painting. This concept can be illustrated in several ways, such as the human mind moving from the softness of a dream to the hardness of reality. In his masterpiece, Dali uses melting clocks and stones to represent the soft and hard aspects of the world respectively. Over the years, the persistence of memory has been analyzed a lot, since Dali never explained his work. The melting clock is considered an unconscious symbol of the relativity of space and time; as a symbol of mortality with ants surrounding a clock representing decay; and as the irrationality of dreams. The work "The Persistence of Memory" is considered one of the greatest masterpieces of art of the twentieth century. This work is not only included in the list of "The most famous paintings of Dali", but is also the most famous work in surrealism.

Salvador Dali is one of the most famous people of the 20th century, who became a celebrity not just during his lifetime, but at a fairly young age. Dali is known as a graphic artist, sculptor, director and writer, but primarily as a painter. Only one of his teachers, Pablo Picasso, could match his fame. And without exaggeration, we can say that Salvador Dali is the only surrealist whose name was heard by every person, no matter how far he was from art. It is he who owns the phrase "surrealism is me", which he said on the day when he was expelled from the group of surrealists.

The works of Salvador Dali amaze the imagination with the paradoxical nature of the figurative worldview, their ingenious unsurpassedness. You can describe the paintings of Salvador Dali for hours, but it is better to see them with your own eyes and form your own opinion about them. Below are some of the most famous paintings with titles and brief descriptions.

One of the first works of Salvador Dali. Made in the impressionistic style.

The picture was created during the artist's search for his manner and style of performance. The atmosphere is reminiscent of paintings by De Chirico.

The canvas is made in a cubist manner unusual for Dali, in imitation of one of the teachers of El Salvador - Pablo Picasso.

Experiments with geometric shapes already make you feel that mystical desert, which is characteristic of Dali in the later "surreal" period of creativity.

Another name is "Invisible", the picture demonstrates one of the main methods of Dali's painting - metamorphosis, hidden meanings and outlines of objects.

It is believed that the canvas reveals the obsessions and childhood fears of Salvador Dali.

Like Enlightened Pleasures, the painting is a popular field for studying the personality of the painter among art historians.

The author's most famous and most discussed work among artists. It uses ideas from a number of previous works: self-portrait and ants, soft watch and the coast of Cadaqués, home of El Salvador.

Gala - the artist's beloved wife, is often present in his paintings. This canvas reflects Dali's paranoid-critical method.

This is not a painting, but a sculpture in the style of surrealism. Despite the symbols of fertility - bread and corn on the cob, Dali, as it were, emphasizes the price that has to be paid for this: the woman's face is full of ants eating her.

One of Dali's outright mockeries of communism. Main character according to Dali himself, this is Lenin in a cap. This is not the only work this topic. For example, in 1931, the artist wrote.

It's not just a picture. This work was written on paper and realized in the form of a real room in life size.

It is believed that the head of roses is a tribute to Arcimboldo, famous artist, who used vegetables and fruits in his work to draw up portraits (eggplant nose, wheat hair, etc.).

This canvas reflects the horror of the Spaniard, who understands that his country is moving towards a terrible civil war.

A statue. The most famous Dalian item. The idea of ​​boxes is also present in the artist's painting.

Another name is "The Transformation of Narcissus". Deep psychological work.

It is known that Dali spoke differently about Hitler. At least in the year the picture was written, the main emotion towards Hitler was more sympathy than anything else.

One of the most famous "optical" paintings by Salvador Dali, in which he plays with color associations and angle of view. Look at the picture at different distances - you will see various plots.

Brightness, lightness and illusory nature of what is happening. The long-legged elephant in the background is one of Dali's popular characters.

One of the paintings of the period of Salvador's passion for physics. Images, objects and faces are broken into spherical corpuscles.

Crucifixion or Hypercubic Body (1954)

The original name "Corpus hypercubus" is often used in Russian-language literature without translation. On the canvas, the crucifixion of Christ is depicted. Dali turns to religion, but writes biblical scenes in his own manner, bringing a substantial amount of mysticism to the paintings. And in the "religious" paintings, the artist's wife Gala is often present.

The great and extraordinary man Salvador Dali was born in Spain in the city of Figueres in 1904 on May 11th. His parents were very different. Mother believed in God, and father, on the contrary, was an atheist. Salvador Dali's father was also called Salvador. Many believe that Dali was named after his father, but this is not entirely true. Although the father and son had the same names, the younger Salvador Dali was named in memory of his brother, who died before he was two years old. This worried the future artist, as he felt like a double, some kind of echo of the past. Salvador had a sister who was born in 1908.

Childhood of Salvador Dali

Dali studied very poorly, was spoiled and restless, although he had the ability to draw in childhood. The first teacher of El Salvador was Ramon Pichot. Already at the age of 14, his paintings were at an exhibition in Figueres. In 1921, Salvador Dali left for Madrid and entered the Academy there. fine arts. He did not like teaching. He believed that he himself could teach his teachers the art of drawing. He stayed in Madrid only because he was interested in communicating with his comrades. There he met Federico Garcia Lorca and Luis Buñuel.

Studying at the Academy

In 1924, Dali was expelled from the academy for misbehavior. Returning there a year later, he was expelled again in 1926 without the right to reinstatement. The incident that led to this situation was simply amazing. At one of the exams, the professor asked the academy to name 3 of the greatest artists in the world. Dali replied that he would not answer such questions, because not a single teacher from the academy had the right to be his judge. Dali was too contemptuous of teachers. And by this time, Salvador Dali already had his own exhibition, which Pablo Picasso himself visited. This was the catalyst for introducing the artists. Salvador Dali's close relationship with Buñuel resulted in a film called Andalusian Dog, which had a surrealist twist. In 1929, Dali officially became a surrealist.

How Dali found his muse

In 1929, Dali found his muse. She became Gala Eluard. It is she who is depicted in many paintings by Salvador Dali. A serious passion arose between them, and Gala left her husband to be with Dali. At the time of meeting his beloved, Dali lived in Cadaques, where he bought himself a hut without any special amenities. Not without the help of Gala Dali, they managed to organize several excellent exhibitions that were in cities such as Barcelona, ​​London, New York. In 1936, a very tragicomic moment happened. At one of his exhibitions in London, Dali decided to give a lecture in a diving suit. Soon he began to choke. Actively gesturing with his hands, he asked to take off his helmet. The public took it as a joke, and everything worked out. By 1937, when Dali had already visited Italy, the style of his work had changed significantly. Too strongly influenced by the work of the masters of the Renaissance. Dali was expelled from the surrealist society.

During the Second World War, Dali went to the United States, where he was recognizable, and quickly achieved success. In 1941, the US Museum of Modern Art opened its doors for his personal exhibition. Having written his autobiography in 1942, Dali felt that he was really famous, as the book sold out very quickly. In 1946, Dali collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock. Of course, despite the success of his former comrade Andre Breton, he could not miss the chance to write an article in which he humiliated Dali - “ Salvador Dali- Avida Dollars "(" Rowing dollars "). In 1948, Salvador Dali returned to Europe and settled in Port Lligate, leaving from there to Paris, then back to New York.

Dali was very famous person. He did almost everything and was successful. All his exhibitions cannot be counted, but the exhibition at the Tate Gallery was most memorable, which was visited by about 250 million people, which cannot but impress. Salvador Dali died in 1989 on January 23 after the death of Gala, who died in 1982.

Creation

It is difficult to find a personality more controversial among artists. Judgments, actions, paintings by Salvador Dali, everything had a slight touch of insane surrealism. This man was not just a surrealist artist, he himself was the embodiment of surrealism.

However, Dali did not come to surrealism immediately. The work of Salvador Dali began, first of all, with the study of the techniques of classical academic painting. Dali also tried himself in cubism, he treated the canvases of Pablo Picasso with the greatest reverence. As a consequence, elements of cubism can be traced in some of his surrealist works. The work of Salvador Dali was also greatly influenced by the painting of the Renaissance. He said many times that modern artists are nothing compared to the titans of the past (however, who would doubt it). But when he began to write in the style of surrealism, he became his love almost until the end of his life. Only at the end of his life did Dali move away from surrealism and return to more realistic painting.

Salvador Dali can be safely attributed to the classics of surrealism. Moreover, Dali's expression "surrealism is me" in modern world become true in the eyes of millions. Ask any person on the street who they associate with the word surrealism - almost anyone will answer without hesitation: Salvador Dali!

His name is familiar even to those who do not fully understand the meaning and philosophy of surrealism, even to those who are not interested in painting. Salvador Dali had a rare ability to shock others, he was the hero of the lion's share of secular conversations of his era, everyone spoke about him, from the bourgeois to the proletariat. He was, perhaps, best actor of artists, and if the word PR existed then, then Dali could safely be called a PR genius, both black and white. However, it is foolish to talk about what Dali was like, if you really want to understand it - just take a look at his paintings, which are the embodiment of his extravagant personality; genius, weird, crazy and beautiful.

Nuclear mysticism

After World War II, humanity entered a new phase of existence. One of the most devastating and at the same time stimulating factors was the use of the US nuclear bomb when the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed on August 6 and 9, 1945. Of course, from a moral and ethical point of view, this event was a shame for the civilized world, but there was another side - the transition to a fundamentally new level of scientific and technical thought. At the same time, religious motives became more pronounced in Western European and American life.

The new trends have penetrated especially deeply into the environment of the creative elite and the intelligentsia. One of the most sensitive to the tragic events of the creators was Salvador Dali. Due to his psycho-emotional characteristics, he rather sharply perceived this universal human catastrophe and, against the background of the specifics of his art, developed his own art manifesto. This marked new period in his life and work, which lasted from 1949 to 1966, under the name "nuclear mysticism".

The first signs of "nuclear mysticism" appeared in the work "Atomic Leda", where he spoke in synthesis with ancient mythology. So, after arriving from America for Dali, the theme of Christianity became the main one. Probably the first in the series of works can be considered the Madonna of Port Lligata written in 1949. In it, he tried to approach the aesthetic criteria of the Renaissance. In November of the same year, he made a visit to Rome, where, at an audience with Pope Pius XII, he presented his canvas to the pontiff. According to eyewitnesses, the Pope was not too impressed by the similarity of the Mother of God with Gala, because the church at that time headed for renewal.

After this significant event, Dali had the idea of ​​a new painting - "Christ San Juan de la Cruz", for the creation of which he took as a basis the drawing of the Crucifixion, the creation of which was attributed to the saint himself. The huge picture depicted Jesus over the bay of Port Lligata, the view of which was opened from the terrace of the artist's house. Later, this landscape was repeatedly repeated in the paintings of Dali in the 50s. And already in April 1951, Dali published the Mystical Manifesto, in which he proclaimed the principle of paranoid-critical mysticism. El Salvador was absolutely convinced of the decline of modern art, which, in his opinion, was due to skepticism and a lack of faith. The paranoid-critical mysticism itself, according to the master, was based on the amazing successes of modern science and the "metaphysical spirituality" of quantum mechanics.

With the help of his paintings, Dali tried to show the presence of a Christian and mystical beginning in the atom. He considered the world of physics to be more transcendent than psychology, and quantum physics- the greatest discovery of the twentieth century. In general, the period of the 50s became for the artist a period of intellectual and spiritual search, which gave him the opportunity to combine two opposite principles - science and religion.

Paintings by Salvador Dali

The paintings of Salvador Dali are one of the brightest examples of the embodiment of the manifesto of surrealism, the very freedom of the spirit, bordering on madness. Uncertainty, chaotic forms, the connection of reality with dreams, the connection of thoughtful images with delusional ideas from the very depths of the subconscious, the combination of the impossible with the possible, this is what Salvador Dali's paintings are. And with all this, with all the enormity of the work of Salvador Dali, it has an inexplicable appeal, even the emotions that arise when viewing paintings by Salvador Dali, it would seem that they simply cannot exist together. It's scary to even think what can go on in the head of a person capable of painting such canvases. One thing is clear - what was not there was the dullness of monotonous everyday life.
But already too much crap has been written, painting speaks better than any words. Enjoy.

"Atomic Leda"

Today, the painting "Atomic Leda" can be seen at the Salvador Dali Theater Museum in Figueres. The author of the canvas, as strange as it sounds, was inspired to write by the discovery of the atom and the dropping of atomic bombs on Japanese islands in 1945. The terrifying destructive power of the atom did not frighten the artist at all. Information about elementary particles that never come into contact with each other and, along with this, form the surrounding reality and objects around, have become a new source of the master's creativity and the key plots of the paintings. Moreover, Dali, who did not tolerate any kind of touch, saw in the principle of the structure of the world a special symbolism for himself.

Atomic Leda was written in 1949. At the heart of the picture ancient greek myth about Leda - the ruler of Sparta and Zeus - the god of all the gods of Olympus, who fell in love with the queen and appeared to her in the guise of a swan. After that, the queen laid an egg, from which three children hatched - Helen of Troy and the twin brothers Castor and Pollux. With Castor, the master identified his older brother, who died before his birth.

Two more important objects in the picture are the square and the book. A square and a ruler, in the form of a shadow, are essential tools used in geometry. They also indicate a mathematical calculation, and in the sketches of the artist, the proportions of the pentagram, called the "golden section", can be traced. In these calculations, Dali was assisted by the famous Romanian mathematician - Matila Ghica. The book, according to many assumptions, is a bible and an indication of the artist's return to the Catholic Church.

The background of the picture is the land and the sea, like all parts of the picture, not in contact with each other. Salvador Dali interpreted this moment using the example of one of the sketches, explaining that in this way he sees the projection into reality of the origin of the “divine and animal”. The rocks on the sides of the picture are part of the Catalan coast, where the artist was born and raised. It is known that when Dali worked on the canvas, he was in California, so the longing for his native landscapes splashed out in the pictures of the creator.

"The Face of War"

Salvador Dali could not see how the Nazi troops break into his native France. He left for the USA with his wife, leaving his favorite places, realizing with pain and bitterness that everything would be destroyed and broken.

The horror of war, fear, bloodshed overwhelmed the mind of the artist. Everything that was sweet and dear for many years was trampled, burned and torn to pieces in an instant. It seemed that all dreams, all plans were buried alive under the fascist boot.

In the USA, Dali was waiting for success, recognition, his life there was very happy and eventful, but then, when the artist was sailing on the ship, leaving France, he did not know this yet. Each of his nerves was taut, like a string, emotions demanded an outlet, and, right there, on the steamer, Dali proceeded to his painting “The Face of War” (1940).

This time he deviated from his usual manner, the picture was written extremely simply and intelligibly. She screamed, she burst into consciousness, she fettered with horror all who contemplated her. Eye sockets and twisted mouth repeat this nightmare many times. Skulls, skulls, skulls, and even inhuman horror - that's all that war brings to everyone who gets in its way. Next to the war there is no life, and in itself it is nightmarish and dead.

Numerous snakes are born from the head and eat it. They look more like vile worms, but their mouths are open and it seems that even now their evil hiss is heard. The viewer of the picture is not an outside observer, he seems to be here, only looking at the nightmarish face from the cave. This feeling is reinforced by the trace of the hand in the corner of the picture.

Dali, as if, wants to call for reason - now, when you are under cover, in a cave, think about whether it is worth going to where there is only a lifeless mask of death, is it worth starting wars that devour their own starters, who bring endless suffering and are doomed to terrible death.

"A dream caused by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate"

The famous masterpiece of the outrageous surrealist Dali, created in 1944 and inspired by Freudian psychoanalysis, can be briefly called "Dream". Thus, Freud's extensive work on the theory of dreams proved to be useful not only in the field of scientific psychology and psychiatry, but also served as the brightest inspiration for adherents of surrealism. It must be said that the psychoanalyst himself did not recognize this work, but one cannot deny the uniqueness of these paintings and the presence of many fans of such art.

Dreams can last for seconds, while creating the impression of a holistic performance in the arena of the unconscious. Freudianism insists on the possibility of external stimuli "penetrating" into a dream, while transforming into various symbolic images. So, on the canvas of Salvador Dali, a naked model (Gala's wife) and a small pomegranate with a bee soaring above it are in focus. These are real world objects. The other drawings of the composition are the product of sleep. The vast sea personifies the unconscious of a person full of deep secrets. Bernini's ghostly elephant on "stilts" conveys the unsteadiness and instability of a sleepy state. A fruit with scarlet berries in a dream becomes enlarged.

The woman's body floats above the rocky plane, which conveys to the audience the possibility of the impossible, familiar in dreams. A little more, and Gala will wake up ... Before us is a blurred moment before her departure to the conscious world from the abysses of the unconscious. Now residents and tourists of Madrid have the opportunity to admire the canvas with their own eyes. The rest of art lovers know the work from the pages world wide web and reproductions.

"Galatea of ​​the Spheres"

All Dali paintings are distinguished by their unusual appeal. I want to carefully consider every corner, so as not to miss a single detail. So it is in his famous and great Galatea of ​​the spheres. Looking at her, one wonders: how did the artist manage to depict a face so skillfully through a combination of spheres? One can only marvel at the perfection and harmony of their fusion. Only a true master can do such a masterpiece.

Salvador Dali painted his picture back in 1952 during the period of nuclear-mystical creativity. At that time, the artist studied various sciences and came across the theory of atoms. This theory impressed Dali so much that he began to write new picture. He depicts the face of his wife from many small spheres of atoms, merging into a single whole corridor. The symmetry of these circles forms a powerful perspective and gives the picture a three-dimensional appearance.

The lips of Galatea are the shadow of a row of balls. The eyes are like two separate small planets. The outlines of the nose, the oval of the face, the ears, the hair seem to break these spheres into separate atoms. Color combinations and contrasts make them appear voluminous, bulging and embossed. As if Galatea is a transparent shell, consisting of color contrasts of many small ideal spheres.

Only some of its elements reflecting the face of Gala, her hair, lips, body are painted in natural colors. The whole composition as a whole fascinates, bewitches the viewer. It gives the impression of moving circles. It is as if Galatea is spinning with the help of each individual living atom.

"Great Masturbator"

The painting, painted in 1929 in the style of surrealism, is currently exhibited at the Reina Sofia Art Center in Madrid (Spain). In the center of the picture is a deformed human face looking down. A similar profile is also depicted in Dali's more famous painting The Persistence of Memory (1931). From the bottom of the head rises naked female figure, reminiscent of the muse of the artist Gala. The woman's mouth reaches out to the male genitals hidden under light clothing, hinting at the upcoming fellatio. male figure depicted only from the waist to the knees with fresh bleeding cuts.

Under human face, on his mouth, sits a locust - an insect in front of which the artist experienced an irrational fear. Ants are crawling along the belly of the locust and along the central figure - a popular motif in Dali's works - a symbol of corruption. Under the locust, a pair of figures is depicted, casting one common shadow. In the lower left corner of the picture, a lone figure hurriedly retires into the distance. In addition, the canvas also contains an egg (a symbol of fertility), a heap of stones and (under the face of a woman) a calla flower with a phallic pestle.

"Great Masturbator" has great importance to study the personality of the artist, as inspired by his subconscious. The painting reflects Dali's controversial attitude towards sex. In his childhood, Dali's father left a book on the piano with photographs of genitals affected by venereal diseases, which led to the association of sex with decay and averted young Dali from sexual relations for a long time.

"Portrait of Luis Bunuel"

This picture was painted in 1924. It was originally in the collection of Luis Buñuel. It is currently located at the Reina Sofia Art Center in Madrid. Dali met Luis Buñuel at the Royal Academy of Arts in Madrid during his studies in 1922-1926. Buñuel was one of those who greatly influenced El Salvador. Later, Dali took part in the filming of two films by Buñuel: Andalusian Dog (1929) and The Golden Age (1930).

The portrait of Luis Bunuel was painted when the future director was 25 years old. He is portrayed as serious and thoughtful person with a gaze looking away from the artist and the audience. The picture is made in gloomy colors. Restrained colors create an atmosphere of seriousness and emphasize a thoughtful look.

A remarkable unity has been achieved in this masterpiece by Dali. active form and concentrated psychological characteristics. A magnificently written face is instantly recognizable, just as the features of a mature person are immediately "grabbed" individual style Dali, the ability of the artist to strict self-control in the choice of pictorial means.

"Melancholy"

Salvador Dali was a genius (perhaps a little crazy, but this is generally characteristic of geniuses who were ahead of their time) - even those in whose hearts his paintings do not find a response agree with this.

After all, these paintings, even more than any other art, must be understood with the heart, the center of the soul, which hurts, pulls, knocks and beats. After all, even having understood with the brain that the artist meant this, achieved this and generally protested against the Second World War and discrimination, for example, blacks, it will not work to fall in love with the paintings. They need to be felt. Feel the freedom beating in them - they are boundless, despite the fact that they are limited by the narrow space of the canvas.

So "Melancholia" is full of desert that stretches from end to end. The mountains on the horizon do not limit it, on the contrary, they seem to help to grow even more, to expand even more. Clouds twisting into strange shapes expand the sky. Faceless cupid angels are hooligans, one of them plays the lyre. The table, with carved posts, like a bed, looks almost ridiculous in the desert, and tramples all the laws of human perception. A man with an empty face looks into the distance bored and silent.

The whole picture resonates in the soul - melancholy, the wind in the desert, the chime of the strings on the lute - but does not resonate in the brain, because the brain cannot feel it, for this there is a heart.

"Geopolitical Baby Watching the Birth of a New Man"

The difficult period of the Second World War, the artist spent in America. His beloved Spain was in the very center of bloody events, and, of course, worries about the fate of mankind resonated in the soul of a genius. The picture was painted in 1943, at the height of hostilities in Europe. In the center is a huge egg symbolizing the planet. A crack passes through it and a hand can be seen firmly clinging to the shell. The outlines inside, they say what kind of torment, experiencing New person, and a drop of blood falls on a white cloth spread under the planet. In the right corner stands a woman with her hair blowing in the wind and bare breasts, pointing out to the baby, hugging her knees, the complex action of the birth of a new consciousness of humanity. The universe is depicted as a desert, where lonely silhouettes are visible. Written in yellow-brown tones, symbolizing the sick state the world is in.

"The Persistence of Memory"

The inspiration for one of the best works of Salvador Dali was piece of Camembert cheese. A deserted beach with a quiet expanse of water has become unconscious of a person. On the bough of a broken tree hang a molten clock that mimics the shape of cheese. In the center lies a bizarre creature in which you can see closed eyelids with long eyelashes, which also has a soft clock. A kind of idea of ​​time, which slowly flows into the safe haven of human consciousness.

"Invisible Man"

At the heart of the human shape, which is lost in his fantasies and imagination. The author has created a work of striking depth, the boundaries are blurred, and the space becomes cosmically infinite. The same feeling is transmitted due to the connection of time periods in the history of mankind. Antiquity and the Middle Ages remained by means of columns and architecture, modernity is represented by clear forms of cubism. The picture contains many images understandable only to the artist. In The Invisible Man, Salvador Dali's fascination with Freud's theories is visible.

"Crucifixion"

On the chessboard in the left corner stands a woman in Renaissance clothes, in front of the sea surface of the water. The gaze of the woman, in whom the artist's wife is recognizable, is directed upwards, where Jesus Christ is crucified. The face is not visible, the head is thrown back, the body is stretched out like a string, the fingers are bent in a painful spasm. The geometric shapes of the cube and the perfection of the young body merge and at the same time become antipodes. The cold surface of the crucifixion is human indifference and cruelty, on which love and kindness die.

Activities outside of painting

• In addition to painting, Dali's ebullient nature also found its expression in other areas of art: sculpture, photography, and cinema, which at the beginning of the 20th century was considered the most magical and promising of the arts.
• Dali visits America, where he meets and befriends the famous cartoonist Walt Disney and even draws a little for cartoons.
• He also willingly acts in commercials, but commercials with his participation come out too eccentric and outrageous. A chocolate commercial will be remembered for a long time, where Dali bites off a piece of chocolate, after which his mustache curls, and he says in a euphoric voice that he just went crazy from this chocolate.
• The creative heritage of Salvador Dali is simply huge: a bunch of amazing pictures, each of which costs at least millions of dollars.
• The artist died in 1989, but his paintings will live forever, surprising us and more than one generation of our descendants with their mysterious, crazy, eccentric beauty and genius.