SALVADOR DALI's MIND BLOWING WORLD - PART 3
Salvador Dali - Agent Provocateur of Modern Art
"Every morning, upon awakening, I experience a supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dali, and I ask myself, wonderstruck, what prodigious thing will he do today, this Salvador Dali."
Salvador Dali
"Every morning, upon awakening, I experience a supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dali, and I ask myself, wonderstruck, what prodigious thing will he do today, this Salvador Dali."
Salvador Dali
#31 Galatea of the Spheres (1952)
The Galatea of the Spheres is a marvelous portrait of Dali's wife known as Gala.One of the most representative works from the nuclear mysticism period. It is the outcome of a Dalí impassioned by science and for the theories of the disintegration of the atom. Gala’s face is made up from a discontinuous, fragmented setting, densely populated by spheres, which on the axis of the canvas takes on a prodigious three-dimensional vision and perspective.[Source]
#32 The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory (1952-1954)
Dali repeated his theme of the melting watches many times, most notably in the 1950’s with The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory. Whereas some interpretations of the first work claim that it represents Einstein’s theory of relativity, interpretations of this work state that it represents the newly emerging ideas of quantum mechanics and the coming of the digital age. Later in his career Dali also created many lithographs and sculptures with variants on the theme of soft watches.[Source]
#33 Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus) - (1954)
Dali called this painting "Metaphysical, transcendent cubism, it is based entirely on the Treatise on Cubic Form by Juan de Herrera, Philip the 2nd's architect, builder of the Escorial Palace: it is a treatise inspired by Ars Magna of the Catalonian philosopher and alchemist Raymond Lulle. The cross is formed by an octahedral hypercube. The number nine is identifiable and becomes especially consubstantial with the body of Christ. The extremely noble figure of Gala is the perfect union of the develpment of the hypercubic octahedron on the human level of the cube. She is depicted in front of the Bay of Port Lligat. The most noble beings were painted by Velazques and Zurbaran; I only approach nobility while painting Gala, and noblity can only be insired by the human being."[source]
#34 Young Virgin Auto-Sodomized by the Horns of Her Own Chastity (1954)
This painting documents Dali's interest in exaggerating the representation of the female form and the possibilities of an abstracted background. The main force within the painting is clearly its sexual allusion: the horned shapes hovering around the woman are overtly phallic, and the painting's title offers a direct clue about the aggressively sexual tone of the work.[source]
#35 The Sacrament of the Last Supper (1955)
Dali called this painting “The first Holy Communion on Earth is conceived as a sacred rite of the greatest happiness for humanity. This rite is expressed with plastic means and not with literary ones. My ambition was to incorporate to Zurbarán’s mystical realism the experimental creativeness of modern painting in my desire to make it classic.”[source]
#36 Living Still Life (1956)
Dali painted this piece during a period that he called “Nuclear Mysticism.” Nuclear Mysticism is composed of different theories that try to show the relationships between quantum physics and the conscious mind.[source]
#37 Santiago el Grande (1957)
An atomic explosion bursting from the four petals of a jasmine flower – a symbol of purity and one of the artist’s favorite aromas (a personal reference amidst an iconography that is otherwise rooted in Spanish tradition) – raises the steed toward heaven. There are numerous other elements in the painting which reinforce the narratives of religiosity and nationalism.[source]
#38 The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus (1958-1959)
This painting, his largest to that date, transforms the familiar story of Columbus’ voyage to the New World into an epic dream about discovery and identity. Originally titled “The Dream of Columbus,” the explorer, dressed in a flowing robe with his ship in the background, is painted at the moment he is about to step onto the New World. Dali presents this historic event as the dream of a young man surrounded by figures in the clouds.[source]
#39 The Ecumenical Council (1960)
Although titled The Ecumenical Council, this work depicts the coronation of Pope John XXIII. who convened the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, or Vatican II. The Pope appealed to Dali because he sought to renew Catholicism’s beliefs and practices in relation to the modern world. Similarly, Dali sought to revitalize art by merging modern science with spirituality.[source]
#40 Galacidalacidesoxyribonucleicacid (1963)
This painting belongs to Dali's "Nuclear Mysticism" period. After World War II and more specifically the shock of Hiroshima and the atomic bomb as well as rapid developments in science and the discovery of DNA, many of Dali's paintings reveal Dali's fascination for science and mysticism and indeed his wife Gala.[source]
#41 La Gare de Perpignan (1965)
The painting shows the railway station of Perpignan, but with various intrinsic additions, which are examples of surrealistic techniques. A locomotive is seen as if it is coming out of nowhere, and there is a representation of the crucifixion of Christ along with other related aspects. These include the farmer’s fork which represents Christ’s bleeding wounds, a boat which represents the passage from life to death, and the distinction between the elements on the right and left. The left part is made up of positive elements, whereas the right section is composed of negative elements which signify sin and suffering.[source]
#42 Tuna Fishing (1966-1967)
This artwork depicts men acting violently toward large fish. As long golden daggers stab the aquatic creatures, the once pristine blue waters turn to a blood red. To Dali, the men and the fish they are killing personify the universe. It represents a specific and frantic, compressed space that the world can sometimes be.[source]
#43 The Hallucinogenic Toreador (1968-1970)
A toreador is a bullfighter, one of the great heroes of Spanish culture. This work is arguably Dali’s most ambitious double image painting, but surprisingly, this monumental canvas has humble origins. When shopping for art supplies, Dali purchased a box of Venus-brand pencils. Staring at the Venus de Milo on the box, he glimpsed a face within the shadows. This simple experience led to one of Dali’s most complex paintings.[source]
#44 The Swallow's Tail (1983)
The Swallow’s Tail completed in the spring in 1983, the last in a series based of paintings based on catastrophe theory, and was Salvador Dali’s last painting. Catastrophe theory, based on the thinkings of Rene Thom, posited that there are seven equilibrium surfaces: fold, cusp, swallowtail, butterfly, hyperbolic umbilic, elliptic umbilic, and parabolic umbilic. Dali incorporated each one of these surfaces into his painting, alongside the gentle and elegant curves of the cello.[Source]
Which one is your favorite and why?
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