Childhood and youth
The baby's mother, Felipe Domenech, immediately began to care for and pamper her son, while the father remained strict with his offspring. The boy grew up as a capricious and very wayward child. Having learned the truth about his older brother at the age of 5, he began to be burdened by this fact, which further influenced his fragile psyche.
In 1908, the Dali family welcomed a daughter, Ana Maria Dali, who later became a close friend of her brother. The boy became interested in drawing from early childhood, and he was good at it. A workshop was built for Salvador in the utility room, where he spent hours alone to create.
early years
Salvador Domenech Felip Jacinth, Marquis de Dalí de Pubol, better known as Salvador Dalí, was born on May 11, 1904 in the Catalan city of Figueres. His parents are notary Salvador Dali Cusi and Felipa Domenech Forres. Nine months before his birth, before he was two years old, his older brother, also named Salvador, died. Four years later, Dali had a younger sister, Anna-Maria.
Already in childhood, the young man stood out for his eccentricity. He grew up capricious and spoiled, and his tendency to hide his true feelings behind extravagant behavior became a kind of barrier between truth and fiction that accompanied Salvador throughout his entire life.
In 1921, when the future artist was 17, his beloved mother died, and his father married her sister. In a short biography of Salvador Dali, this particular moment should be called the beginning of quarrels with the family, followed by the son’s complete renunciation of his father.
In 1922, Dali moved to Madrid and entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in San Fernando. Then his behavior alternated between youthful anarchism and the manners of an elegant dandy. At the academy, he met two talented young men: Federico Garcia Lorca and Luis Buñuel. As the biography of Salvador Dali suggests, these two young men are important heroes. Together with new friends, the aspiring artist became interested in the works of Freud and psychoanalysis.
In the emergence of Dali as a genius of surrealism, the influence of impressionism and cubism played a large role, although at first it was easier for him to follow classical painting. Biographers of the artist Salvador Dali call the first real exhibition that took place in Barcelona in 1925 (although he already exhibited his early works in a local theater at the age of 14). The paintings created a real sensation, making the artist’s name famous in Spain.
Personal life
The year 1929 brought changes to the personal life of Salvador Dali and his relatives. He met the only love of his life - Elena Ivanovna Dyakonova, an emigrant from Russia, who at that time was the wife of the poet Paul Eluard. She called herself Gala Eluard and was 10 years older than the artist.
After their first meeting, Dali and Gala never parted again, and his father and sister were horrified by this union. Salvador Sr. deprived his son of all financial subsidies from his side, and Ana Maria broke off creative relations with him. The newly-made lovers settle on the sandy shore in Cadaques in a small shack without amenities, where Salvador begins to create his immortal creations.
“Gala is my only muse, my genius and my life, without Gala I am nothing.”
Salvador Dali ... Photo: Dali and Gala in Manhattan. Posted by Victoria Chulkova on Saturday, May 11, 2019
Salvador Dali and his wife Gala Dali
Three years later, they officially married, and in 1958 their wedding took place. The couple lived happily for a long time, until discord began in their relationship in the early 60s. The elderly Gala longed for carnal pleasures with young boys, and Dali began to find solace in the circle of young favorites. For his wife, he buys a castle in Pubol, where he can only visit with Gala’s consent.
For about 8 years, his muse was the British model Amanda Lear, with whom Salvador had only a platonic relationship; it was enough for him to watch his passion for hours and enjoy her beauty. Amanda's career destroyed their relationship, and Dali broke up with her without regret.
A story from the life of Salvador Dali. Sketches from childhood
In order to understand the paintings of Salvador Dalí , it is advisable to “turn off” the mind and try to perceive the artist’s work with emotions. And in order to understand Salvador himself, it is advisable not to “turn on” the mind at all: you need to stop evaluating Dali’s actions from the point of view of generally accepted morality, because his life is as surreal as his work.
In his autobiography, “The Extraordinary Confessions of Salvador Dali,” he wrote: “The clown is not really me, but our terribly cynical and insensitive society, which so naively plays at being serious that this helps him in the best way to hide his own madness. And the difference between me and a crazy person is that I’m not crazy.” He wasn't really crazy, but he played that role all his life. Sometimes, however, Dali overacted, which led to irreparable consequences, for example, to a complete break with his father.
Life circumstances were such that Salvador Dali was born twice. The first Salvador died at the age of 22 months. Then the one we know was born. The parents suffered greatly over their lost firstborn, and there was a cult of the dead child in the family. His suits were hanging and his toys were lying around. Little Dali was often taken to the cemetery, where they showed the grave of Salvador I and said: “Look, Salvador, Salvador is buried here.”
And Salvador II could not understand whether he was alive or dead, so he constantly checked himself and those around him for reality. All this was aggravated by the fact that the boy had dreams. Sometimes these were nightmares, sometimes an incredible phantasmagoria, but always vivid visions that he told adults about. They listened to his stories, but did not attach any importance to them.
Salvador Jr. didn’t like the fact that his little sister appeared in the house. Sometimes, if no one was around, he would attack her and beat her, and when she started bleeding, he would immediately leave her behind. When asked why he was doing this, he replied that he just wanted to check if she was real.
Attention! This is what Salvador Dali fought for all his adult life!
He often faked his illness: he peed in the bed, then started coughing. They called a doctor, who spent hours fiddling with the boy, checking his mouth and nose, putting on a thermometer, feeling his tummy, but everything was fine, and the doctor left. And the little prankster jumped up and went for a walk.
The boy's father, who was also named Salvador Dali, did not like his son's behavior at all. And he could take the belt out of his trousers, pour the first number into his offspring, and then lock him in a dark closet. The whole house listened to Salvador Jr.'s hysterical howls for a long time. One day he drew his dad as an ogre, and himself with a cutlet on his head, sitting in his arms. He thought that dad would eat the cutlet and not notice him.
Yes, his relationship with his father did not work out since childhood. But in fact, Salvador Sr. wanted to raise his son as a man and the breadwinner of the family and considered it his duty to give the child a good education. He himself was one of the honorable and respected citizens of Figueres: he was a notary with a fairly successful business. The family did not need anything.
The Dali family: nanny, artist's mother and father, aunt Katerina, sister Anna-Maria and grandmother Anna. Cadacas, 1910
Maybe the son was taking revenge on his father for his mother? The fact is that in this family the adults had strange relationships. Papa Salvador was married to Mama Felipe, but loved her younger sister Caterina, who also lived in their house. And this was practically not hidden. The relationship between dad and mom was quite strained. Therefore, what dad forbade, mom allowed, and the little prankster felt his complete impunity. Felipe forgave him all his antics and was a real angel for the boy. She dressed him up in suits with gold buttons and indulged his every whim. She woke him up in the morning with the same question: “Honey, what do you want?”
Salvador Jr. grew up completely unadapted to life. By the age of six, he couldn’t tie his shoelaces, couldn’t walk to the bakery and back: he kept walking in the wrong direction, and adults had to look for him. But he took great pleasure in dressing up in a king’s costume with a robe and making solemn speeches while standing on the balcony. The neighborhood boys laughed at him, but he liked the fact that he was gathering a crowd of onlookers under the balcony.
One day the Dali family was visiting an artist. And little Salvador, walking through the garden, picked a handful of cherries, and then saw an easel and paints laid out nearby. The bright red berries impressed him so much that he painted them on the barn door so beautifully that the artist told his parents: the boy is very talented, and he needs to be taught. But little Salvador immediately replied that there was no need to teach him anything, he already knew how to do everything.
It's time to gain knowledge. Mom, of course, wanted to send him to an institution for wealthy children, but dad sent him to an ordinary school, where children of fishermen studied. He really wanted the boy to be taught life and to “break off his horns.” But, surprisingly, the children did not offend him, because on the very first day he allowed them to cut off all the gold buttons from the suit and the gold-plated buckles from the shoes. Seeing such generosity, the boys accepted a slightly strange friend into their company.
Before school, Salvador Jr. could read well and write a little. But after finishing first grade, he completely forgot how to do it. “Practically unteachable,” stated the teachers.
His parents had to transfer him to another school, for wealthy children. One day, during a calligraphy lesson, the students were given a very beautiful paper, Salvador suddenly grabbed it and began to write something very quickly. When the teachers looked, they were very surprised: the text was written in perfect calligraphic handwriting.
At the school where Salvador Dali studied, the exit to the street was through a platform like a balcony, then there were stairs to the right and left. One day Salvador went out onto this balcony and decided not to go down the stairs, but to jump down from the balcony. He climbed over the railing and everyone froze, looking at him. He, to everyone's horror, jumped down. Everyone rushed to him: someone bandaged his head, someone checked whether his legs were broken, someone tried to lift him from the ground. Then everyone walked him home arm in arm. It was a real triumph. Now he left school like this every time. But one day, standing on the balcony, he realized that everyone was waiting for him to jump. Then he climbed back over the railing and walked down the stairs with his feet. And again everyone was surprised by his illogicality.
Salvador Dali had a very interesting attitude towards money. He could not distinguish the denomination of banknotes. When they told him on the tram that a ticket cost fifty, meaning a small coin of fifty centimes, he gave fifty pesetas, for which the average family could eat for a whole week. Dad grabbed his head and shouted that his son would die under the fence. The most interesting thing is that this “monetary imbecility” was observed in Salvador Dali in his adult life - he could, when paying for a taxi, give a hundred dollar bill and forget to ask for change. Therefore, all financial affairs were handled by his wife Gala. And Salvador himself said many times that if it weren’t for her, he would have been a beggar and a ragamuffin.
And as a child, Dali really liked to be great and look down on everyone else. He practiced exchanging his pocket money. He climbed onto the desk and announced that today he was changing a two-centime coin for a one-centime coin. His classmates really liked this, and two dozen hands reached out to him. And Salvador enjoyed the attention of others. Slowly and with the dignity of a king, he changed the coins.
Dali's sister, Anna Maria, considered all these stories to be fiction and in the book “Salvador Dali through the eyes of his sister” she presented us with the image of a calm young man who loved his family, friends and painting. Gifted, but ordinary - real, in her opinion. My sister believed that, having become carried away by Gala, Salvador became obsessed not with creativity, but with money, began to value not relationships, but the impression he made, and put on the “Dali mask”
Whether this is so is difficult to judge, because Anna Maria is, first of all, a woman, and she could have been driven not by pain over her brother’s lost spirituality, but by banal jealousy.
No artist of the 20th century combined so many contradictions. On the one hand, most of Salvador Dali’s life is just a fiction, a myth created by the artist himself, on the other hand, his works rightfully occupy an important place in the history of world art. It is still unclear why Dali tried to appear in the image of a selfish eccentric: either out of boredom, or for the sake of advertising, or in the name of a high artistic idea.
He really wanted you and me to read his books and think that he was a surrealist to the core. He wanted to attract our attention to his person. He wanted us to see the self-sufficiency of a genius who made the world revolve around him.
He succeeded.
Creation
Despite the fact that he behaved provocatively at school and did not study well, his father sent him to painting lessons from local artist Ramon Pichot. In 1918, the first exhibition of the young man’s works took place in his native Figueres. It featured landscapes inspired by Dali's picturesque surroundings. Until his last years, Salvador will remain a great patriot of Catalonia.
Already in the first works of the young artist it is clear that he is mastering the painting techniques of the Impressionists, Cubists and Pointillists with special diligence. Under the guidance of art professor Nunens, Dali created the paintings “Aunt Anna Sewing in Cadaqués,” “The Twilight Old Man,” and others. At this time, the young artist became interested in the European avant-garde; he read the works of Freud and Nietzsche. Salvador writes and illustrates short stories for a local magazine. In Figueres he gains some fame.
When the young man turns 17, his family experiences a great loss: his mother dies of breast cancer at the age of 47. Dali’s father will not stop mourning for his wife until the end of his life, and the character of Salvador himself will become completely unbearable. As soon as he entered the Madrid Academy of Arts that same year, he immediately began to behave defiantly towards teachers and students. The antics of the arrogant dandy caused outrage among the Academy professors, and Dali was expelled from the educational institution twice. However, staying in the capital of Spain allowed the young Dali to make the necessary contacts.
Salvador Dali and Frida Kahlo.
Circa 1940s. Posted by Artists and Poets on Thursday, June 25, 2020
Salvador Dali and Frida Kahlo
Federico Garcia Lorca, Pablo Picasso and Luis Buñuel became his friends; they significantly influenced the artistic growth of Salvador. But it was not only creativity that connected the young people. It is known that García Lorca was not shy about his unconventional orientation, and contemporaries even claimed his connections with Dali. But Salvador never became homosexual, even despite his strange sexual behavior.
Scandalous behavior and lack of academic art education did not prevent Salvador Dali from gaining worldwide fame just a few years later. His works of this period were: “Port Alger”, “Young woman seen from the back”, “Female figure at the window”, “Self-portrait”, “Portrait of a father”. And the work “Basket of Bread” even ends up at an international exhibition in the USA. The main model who constantly posed for the artist to create female images at this time was his sister Ana Maria.
Youth
Beginning in 1914, he studied at the Marist Academy. Two years later, visiting the city of Cadaqués with his friend’s parents, he discovers “true art.” The death of his mother in 1921 was a severe shock for the artist. Trying to find solace in art, a few months after the funeral, he tries to enter the Academy of San Fernando. The paper he prepared for the entrance exam did not fit the parameters of the educational institution. Having remade the painting three days before the exam, Dali shocked his father by the fact that it was too small and differed even more from the required parameters.
Having suffered enough from his child and knowing his bad character, the parent simply retreated, not wanting to argue in vain. However, the selection committee decided to accept the eccentric young man thanks to his skill. Having moved to the academy dormitory, the young man begins to monitor his manner of speech and clothing style. He is interested in studying psychology, and in particular the works of Freud. Unfortunately, the change in situation and environment did not change the character of the draftsman, and in 1926 he was expelled from the academy. His insolent behavior and complete lack of respect for the teachers led to his refusal to reinstate him as a student. Deciding to continue developing his style, Salvador goes to Paris. At one of the exhibitions, a meeting with Pablo Picasso, which was no less important for the development of his work, took place. Impressed by his communication with the artist, he creates a series of works in a style similar to his. In 1929, he tried himself for the first time as a director and took on the creation of the film “Un Chien Andalusian.”
Best pictures
The artist’s first famous work is considered to be the canvas “The Persistence of Memory,” which depicts liquid hours flowing from a table against the backdrop of a sandy beach. Now the painting is in the USA at the Museum of Modern Art and is considered the master’s most famous work. With the assistance of his beloved Gala, Dali exhibitions begin to take place in various cities in Spain, as well as in London and New York.
The genius is noticed by the philanthropist Viscount Charles de Noeil, who buys his paintings at a high price. With this money, the lovers buy themselves a decent house near the town of Port Lligata, which is located on the seashore.
In the same year, Salvador Dali takes another decisive step towards future success: he joins the surrealist society. But here, too, the eccentric Catalan does not fit into the mold. Even among the rebels and disturbers of traditional art, such as Breton, Arp, de Chirico, Ernst, Miro, Dali looks like a black sheep. He comes into conflict with all participants in the movement and ultimately proclaims his credo - “Surrealism is me!”
Salvador Dali “Elephants” 1948
Posted by The Art World on Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Salvador Dali - “Elephants”
After Hitler came to power in Germany, Dali began to have unambiguous sexual fantasies about the politician, which found expression in artistic creativity, and this also outraged his colleagues. As a result, on the eve of World War II, Salvador Dali breaks off his relationship with a group of French artists and leaves for America.
During this time, he managed to take part in the creation of Luis Bonuel’s surreal film “Un Chien Andalou,” which was a great success with the public, and also had a hand in his friend’s second film, “The Golden Age.” The young author’s most famous work of this period was “The Riddle of William Tell,” in which he depicted the Soviet leader of the Communist Party with a large exposed gluteal muscle.
Among several dozen paintings from this time, which were exhibited at personal exhibitions in the UK, USA, Spain and Paris, one can highlight “Soft Construction with Boiled Beans, or Premonition of Civil War.” The picture appeared just before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, along with “Exciting Jacket” and “Lobster Telephone”.
Salvador Dali ..Soft watches
Posted by Anna Artist on Wednesday, March 4, 2020
Salvador Dali - “Soft Hours”
After visiting Italy in 1936, Dali began to literally rave about the art of the Italian Renaissance. Features of academicism appeared in his work, which became another contradiction with the surrealists. He writes “Metamorphoses of Narcissus”, “Portrait of Freud”, “Gala - Salvador Dali”, “Autumn Cannibalism”, “Spain”.
His last work in the style of surrealism is considered to be his “Dream of Venus”, which appeared in New York. In the USA, the artist not only paints, he creates advertising posters, designs stores, works with Disney and Hitchcock, helping them with the art design of films. At the same time, he wrote his famous autobiography, “The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, Written by Himself,” which instantly sold out.
Expulsion from the surrealists
As war approached in Europe, especially in Spain, Dalí encountered members of the surrealist movement. At the “trial” held in 1934, he was expelled from the group. He refused to take a position against the Spanish militant Francisco Franco (while surrealist artists such as Luis Buñuel, Picasso and Miro did), but it is unclear whether this directly led to his exile. Dali was officially notified that his expulsion was due to repeated "counter-revolutionary activities related to the celebration of fascism under Adolf Hitler." It is also likely that members of the movement were taken aback by some of Dalí's public outbursts. However, some art historians believe that his exile was more likely due to his feud with the Surrealist leader André Breton.
Despite his exclusion from the movement, Dalí continued to participate in several international surrealist exhibitions in the 1940s. At the opening of the London Surrealist Exhibition in 1936, he gave a lecture entitled "Fantomes paranoiaques athentiques" ("Genuine paranoid ghosts"), dressed in a wetsuit, carrying a billiard cue and walking a pair of Russian wolfhounds. He later said that his clothing was a depiction of "plunging into the depths" of the human mind.
During World War II, Dalí and his wife moved to the United States. They remained there until 1948, when they returned to his beloved Catalonia. These were important years for Dali. The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York gave him his own retrospective exhibition in 1941. This was followed by the publication of his autobiography, The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí (1942). It was also during this time that Dali's attention shifted from surrealism to his classical period. His feud with members of the surrealist movement continued, but Dalí seemed undaunted. His ever-expanding mind ventured into new topics.
Last years
In 1948, Salvador Dali returned to Spain, to Port Lligat, and created the canvas “Elephants”, personifying post-war pain and devastation. In addition, after the nuclear explosion in Japan, new motifs appear in the work of the genius, which draw the viewer’s gaze to the life of molecules and atoms, which is manifested in the paintings “Atomic Leda”, “Splitting of the Atom”. Critics attributed these paintings to the style of mystical symbolism.
From this period, Dali also began to paint canvases on religious subjects, such as “Madonna of Port Lligata”, “The Last Supper”, “Crucifixion or Hypercubic Body”, some of them even received the approval of the Vatican. In the late 50s, at the suggestion of his friend, businessman Enrique Bernat, he developed the logo for the famous Chupa Chups lollipop, which became an image of a chamomile. In its updated form, it is still used by production designers.
Salvador Dali “Dream”
Posted by Yulia Chistyakova on Monday, May 18, 2020
Salvador Dali - “Dream”
The artist is very prolific with ideas, which brings him a constant considerable income. Salvador and Gala meet fashion trendsetter Coco Chanel and become friends with her until the end of her life. Dali's special image with his invariably curled mustache, which he wore already in his youth, becomes a sign of his time. A cult of the artist is created in society.
The genius constantly shocks the audience with his antics. He repeatedly takes photographs with unusual animals, and once even goes for a walk around the city with an anteater, which was confirmed by numerous photographs in popular publications of that time.
The decline of the artist’s creative biography began in the 70s due to the deterioration of his health. But still Dali continues to generate new ideas. During these years, he turned to the stereoscopic technique of writing and created the paintings “Polyhydras”, “Submarine Fisherman”, “Ole, Ole, Velasquez! Gabor! The Spanish genius begins to build a large house-museum in Figueres, which is called the “Palace of the Winds”. The artist planned to place most of his paintings there.
In the early 80s, Salvador Dali received many prizes and awards from the Spanish government; he was made an honorary professor at the Paris Academy of Arts. In his will, which was made public after Dali's death, the eccentric artist indicated that he would transfer his entire fortune of $10 million to Spain.
Death
In the 70s, Salvador began to experience an exacerbation of his mental illness. He is extremely exhausted by hallucinations, and also suffers from an excess of psychotropic medications that doctors prescribe to him. Doctors, not without reason, believed that Dali suffered from schizophrenia, which was complicated by Parkinson’s disease.
Salvador Dali.
"Self-portrait with Raphael's neck." 1922 Posted by Artists and Poets on Friday, July 24, 2020
Salvador Dali - “Self-Portrait with Raphael's Neck”
Gradually, senility began to deprive Dali of the ability to hold a brush in his hand and paint. The death of his beloved wife in 1982 completely devastated the artist, and for some time he lay in the hospital with pneumonia. After 7 years, the old genius’s heart can’t stand it, and he dies from myocardial failure on February 23, 1989. Thus ended the love story of the artist Dali and his muse Gala.
Salvador Dali and Gala
It is worth adding that during this period of time Dali was married to his muse Gala (real name Elena Ivanovna Diakonova).
The couple had no children.
Maria Pilar Abel Martinez already took two paternity tests in 2007, but did not receive any results.
Her lawsuit is directed against the Spanish state, to which Dali left all his estate.
If a woman is recognized as the artist’s daughter, she will be able to use the surname of her famous father, and also have the right to part of his property, which is very, very immodest.
There is reportedly no exact date for the body exhumation process, but it is possible that it could happen in July.
The Dali Foundation said the protest “will be filed in the coming days.”
