The year of birth and death of El Salvador was given. Biography of Salvador Dali. Already in childhood, Dali's talent for fine art manifested itself.

Salvador Dalí (full name Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Dalí de Púbol, cat. Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marqués de Dalí de Púbol, Spanish. Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marqués de Dalí y de Púbol; May 11, 1904 (19040511), Figueres - January 23, 1989, Figueres) - spanish painter, graphic artist, sculptor, director, writer. One of the most famous representatives surrealism.

Worked on the films: “Un Chien Andalou,” “The Golden Age” (directed by Luis Buñuel), “Spellbound” (directed by Alfred Hitchcock). Author of the books Secret life Salvador Dali, as told by himself" (1942), "The Diary of a Genius" (1952-1963), Oui: The Paranoid-Critical Revolution (1927-33) and the essay "The Tragic Myth of Angelus Millet."

Salvador Dali was born in Spain on May 11, 1904 in the city of Figueres, province of Girona, into the family of a wealthy notary. He was a Catalan by nationality, perceived himself as such and insisted on this peculiarity of his. He had a sister, Anna Maria Dalí (Spanish: Anna Maria Dalí, 6 January 1908 - 16 May 1989), and an older brother (12 October 1901 - 1 August 1903), who died of meningitis. Later, at the age of 5, Salvador was told by his parents at his grave that he was the reincarnation of his older brother.

As a child, Dali was a smart, but arrogant and uncontrollable child. One day he started a scandal at retail space for the sake of the candy, a crowd gathered around, and the police asked the owner of the shop to open it during siesta and give the boy some sweets. He achieved his goal through whims and simulation, always striving to stand out and attract attention.

Numerous complexes and phobias, for example, fear of grasshoppers, prevented him from joining ordinary school life and forming ordinary bonds of friendship and sympathy with children. But, like any person, experiencing sensory hunger, he sought emotional contact with children by any means, trying to get used to their team, if not as a comrade, then in any other role, or rather the only one he was capable of - as a shocking and disobedient child, strange, eccentric, always acting contrary to other people's opinions. Losing at school gambling, he acted as if he had won and was triumphant. Sometimes he would start fights for no reason.

Classmates treated the “strange” child rather intolerantly, took advantage of his fear of grasshoppers, slipped these insects down his collar, which drove Salvador to hysterics, which he later told about in his book “The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, Told by Himself.”

Learn fine arts Dali started in the municipal art school. From 1914 to 1918 he was educated at the Academy of the Brothers of the Marist Order in Figueres. One of his childhood friends was the future FC Barcelona footballer Josep Samitier. In 1916, with the family of Ramon Pichó, he went on vacation to the city of Cadaqués, where he became acquainted with modern art.

In 1921, at the age of 47, Dali’s mother died of breast cancer. For Dali this was a tragedy. That same year he enters the Academy of San Fernando. The drawing he prepared for the exam seemed too small to the caretaker, which he informed his father, and he, in turn, informed his son. Young Salvador erased the entire drawing from the canvas and decided to draw a new one. But he only had 3 days left before the final assessment. However, the young man was in no hurry to get to work, which greatly worried his father, who was already long years suffered his quirks. In the end, young Dali announced that the drawing was ready, but it was even smaller than the previous one, and this was a blow for his father. However, the teachers, due to their extremely high skill, made an exception and accepted the young eccentric into the academy.

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We can say with confidence that people who have not heard of Dali simply do not exist. Some know him for his creativity, which reflected an entire era in the life of mankind, others for the shockingness with which he lived and painted.

All of Salvador Dali's works are worth millions these days, and there are always connoisseurs of creativity who are willing to pay the required amount for a canvas.

Dali and his childhood

The first thing that should be said about the great artist is that he is Spanish. By the way, Dali was incredibly proud of his nationality and was a true patriot of his country. The family he was born into determined him in many ways life path, features of the position. The mother of the great creator was a deeply religious person, while his father was a convinced atheist. From childhood, Salvador Dali was immersed in an atmosphere of ambiguity and some ambivalence.

The author of paintings valued at millions was a rather weak student. Restless character, uncontrollable desire for expression own opinion, too wild an imagination did not allow him to achieve great success in his studies, however, Dali showed himself as an artist quite early. Ramon Pichot was the first to notice his ability to draw, and directed the talent of the fourteen-year-old creator in the right direction. So, already at the age of fourteen, the young artist presented his works at an exhibition held in Figueres.

Youth

The works of Salvador Dali allowed him to enter the Madrid Academy of Fine Arts, but the young and even then outrageous artist did not stay there for long. Convinced of his exclusivity, he was soon expelled from the academy. Later, in 1926, Dali decided to continue his studies, but was expelled again, without the right to reinstatement.

A huge role in the life of the young artist was played by his acquaintance with Luis Bonuel, who later became one of the most famous directors working in the genre of surrealism, and Federico, who went down in history as one of the most prominent poets in Spain.

Expelled from the Academy of Arts, the young artist did not hide his feelings, which allowed him in his youth to organize his own exhibition, which was visited by the great Pablo Picasso.

Muse of Salvador Dali

Of course, any creator needs a muse. For Dali, she was Gala Eluard, who was at

The moment of meeting the great surrealist married. A deep, all-consuming passion became the impetus for Gala to leave her husband and for Salvador Dali himself to actively create. The beloved became for the surrealist not only an inspiration, but also a kind of manager. Thanks to her efforts, the works of Salvador Dali became known in London, New York and Barcelona. The artist's fame acquired completely different dimensions.

Avalanche of glory

As befits any creative person, the artist Dali constantly developed, strived forward, improved and transformed his technique. Of course, this led to significant changes in his life, the least of which was his exclusion from the list of surrealists. However, this did not affect his career in any way. Multi-thousand and then multi-million dollar exhibitions gained momentum. The realization of greatness came to the artist after the publication of his autobiography, the circulation of which sold out in record time.

The most famous works

A person who does not know a single work of Salvador Dali simply does not exist, but few can name at least a few works of the great artist. All over the world, the creations of the outrageous artist are preserved like the apple of an eye and are shown to millions of visitors to museums and exhibitions.

Salvador Dali almost always painted his most famous paintings in a certain outburst of feelings, as a result of a certain emotional outburst. For example, “Self-Portrait with Raphael’s Neck” was painted after the death of the artist’s mother, which became a real emotional trauma for Dali, which he repeatedly admitted.

“The Persistence of Memory” is one of Dali’s most famous works. This painting has several different names, coexisting equally in art circles. On canvas in in this case The place where the artist lived and worked - Port Lligat - is depicted. Many creativity researchers argue that the deserted shore in this picture reflects the inner emptiness of the creator himself. Salvador Dali painted “Time” (as this painting is also called) under the impression of the melting of Camembert cheese, from which, perhaps, the key images masterpiece. The clock, which takes on completely unimaginable forms on canvas, symbolizes the human perception of time and memory. The Persistence of Memory is definitely one of Salvador Dali's most profound and thoughtful works.

Variety of creativity

It's no secret that Salvador Dali's paintings are very different from each other. A certain period in an artist’s life is characterized by one or another manner, style, or certain direction. By the time when the creator publicly declared: “Surrealism is me!” - refers to works written from 1929 to 1934. Such paintings as “William Tell”, “The Evening Ghost”, “Bleeding Roses” and many others belong to this period.

The listed works differ significantly from the paintings of the period limited to 1914 and 1926, when Salvador Dali kept his work within certain limits. Early works The master of shocking is characterized by greater uniformity, measuredness, greater calm, and to some extent greater realism. Among such paintings are “Holiday in Figueres”, “Portrait of my father”, painted in 1920-1921, “View of Cadaqués from Mount Pani”.

Salvador Dali painted his most famous paintings after 1934. From that time on, the artist’s method became “paranoid-critical.” The creator worked in this vein until 1937. Among Dali’s works at this time, the most famous were the paintings “Pliable Structure with Boiled Beans (Premonition civil war)" and "Atavistic Remains of Rain"

The “paranoid-critical” period was followed by the so-called American period. It was at this time that Dali wrote his famous “Dream”, “Galarine” and “Dream inspired by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate, a moment before awakening.”

The works of Salvador Dali become increasingly tense over time. The American period is followed by a period of nuclear mysticism. The painting “Sodom Self-satisfaction of an Innocent Maiden” was painted precisely at this time. During the same period, in 1963, the “Ecumenical Council” was written.

Dali calms down

The Less Known Dali

Few people know, but Salvador Dali created his greatest works not only on canvas and wood and not only with the help of paints. The artist’s acquaintance with Luis Bonuel not only largely determined the further direction of Dali’s work, but was also reflected in the painting “Un Chien Andalusian,” which shocked the audience at the time. It was this film that became a kind of slap in the face of the bourgeoisie.

Soon, Dali and Bonuel parted ways, but their joint work went down in history.

Dali and shocking

Even appearance The artist’s image suggests that this is a deeply creative, extraordinary nature, striving for something new and unknown.

Dali was never distinguished by his desire for a calm, traditional appearance. On the contrary, he was proud of his unusual antics and used them in every possible way to his advantage. For example, the artist wrote a book about his own mustache, calling it “antennas for the perception of art.”

In an effort to impress, Dali decided to spend one of his own meetings in a diving suit, as a result of which he almost suffocated.

Dali Salvador put his creativity above all else. The artist gained fame in the most unexpected, strangest ways imaginable. He bought dollar bills for $2, then sold a book about this action for a lot of money. The artist defended the right of his installations to exist by destroying them and bringing them to the police.

Salvador Dali left behind his most famous paintings in huge quantities. However, as well as memories of his strange, incomprehensible character and worldview.

Salvador Dali(full name Salvador Domenech Felip Jacinth Dali and Domenech, Marquis de Pubol, cat. Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marqués de Dalí de Púbol, Spanish Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marqués de Dalí y de Púbol ; May 11 - January 23) - Spanish painter, graphic artist, sculptor, director, writer. One of the most famous representatives of surrealism.

Familiarity with new trends in painting develops - Dali experiments with the methods of Cubism and Dadaism. In the city he is expelled from the Academy for his arrogant and disdainful attitude towards teachers. In the same year he goes to Paris for the first time, where he meets Pablo Picasso. Trying to find own style, in the late 1920s creates a series of works influenced by Picasso and Joan Miró. In the city he participates with Buñuel in the creation of the surreal film “Un Chien Andalou”.

Then he first meets his future wife Galu (Elena Dmitrievna Dyakonova), who was then the wife of the poet Paul Eluard. Having become close to Salvador, Gala, however, continued to meet with her husband and started relationships with other poets and artists, which at that time seemed acceptable in those bohemian circles where Dali, Eluard and Gala moved. Realizing that he actually stole his friend’s wife, Salvador paints his portrait as “compensation.”

Youth

Dali's works are shown at exhibitions, he is gaining popularity. In 1929 he joined the group of surrealists organized by Andre Breton. At the same time, there is a break with his father. The hostility of the artist’s family towards Gala, the associated conflicts, scandals, as well as the inscription made by Dali on one of the canvases - “Sometimes I spit with pleasure on the portrait of my mother” - led to the fact that the father cursed his son and kicked him out of the house. The provocative, shocking and seemingly terrible actions of the artist were not always worth understanding literally and seriously: he probably did not want to offend his mother and did not even imagine what this would lead to, perhaps he longed to experience a series of feelings and experiences that he stimulated in such a blasphemous, at first glance, act. But the father, upset by the long-ago death of his wife, whom he loved and whose memory he carefully preserved, could not stand his son’s antics, which became the last straw for him. In retaliation, the indignant Salvador Dali sent his sperm to his father in an envelope with an angry letter: “This is all I owe you.” Later, in the book “The Diary of a Genius,” the artist, already an elderly man, speaks well of his father, admits that he loved him very much and endured the suffering caused by his son.

Break with the surrealists

After Caudillo Franco came to power in 1936, Dalí quarreled with the surrealists on the left and was expelled from the group. In response, Dali, not without reason, declares: “Surrealism is me.” Salvador was practically apolitical, and even his monarchist views should be understood surrealistically, that is, not seriously, as well as his constantly advertised sexual passion for Hitler. He lived surrealistically, his statements and works had a broader and deep meaning, rather than the interests of specific political parties. So, in 1933, he painted the picture The Riddle of William Tell, where he depicts Lenin in the image with a huge buttock. Dali reinterpreted the Swiss myth according to Freud: Tell became a cruel father who wants to kill his child. Personal memories of Dali, who broke with his father, were layered. Lenin was perceived by communist-minded surrealists as spiritual, ideological father. The painting depicts dissatisfaction with an overbearing parent, a step towards the formation of a mature personality. But the surrealists took the drawing literally, as a caricature of Lenin, and some of them even tried to destroy the canvas.

The evolution of creativity. Departure from surrealism

In 1937, the artist visited Italy and was delighted with the works of the Renaissance. In his own works the correctness of human proportions and other features of academicism begin to dominate. Despite the departure from surrealism, his paintings are still filled with surreal fantasies. Later Dali (in best traditions his conceit and shockingness) credits himself with saving art from modernist degradation, with which he associates his given name(“Salvador” means “Savior” in Spanish).

Dali in the USA

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Dali and Gala left for the United States, where they lived from 2000 to 2000. In 2010, he published a fictionalized autobiography, “The Secret Life of Salvador Dali.” His literary experiments, as well as works of art, as a rule, turn out to be commercially successful. He collaborates with Walt Disney. He invites Dali to test his talent in cinema - an art that at that time was covered in an aura of magic, miracles and wide possibilities. But the surreal cartoon project Destino, proposed by Salvador, was considered commercially unfeasible, and work on it was stopped. Dali works with director Alfred Hitchcock and paints the scenery for the dream scene from the film Spellbound. However, the scene was included in the film very truncated - again for commercial reasons.

Middle and old years

After returning to Spain, he lives mainly in his beloved Catalonia. In 1965 he came to Paris and again, as almost 40 years ago, conquered it with his works, exhibitions and shocking actions. He makes whimsical short films and takes surreal photographs. In his films, he mainly uses reverse viewing effects, but skillfully selected subjects (flowing water, a ball bouncing down the steps), interesting comments, a mysterious atmosphere created acting artist, makes films unusual examples of art house. Dali appears in commercials, and even in such commercial activities does not miss opportunities for self-expression. TV viewers will long remember a chocolate commercial in which the artist takes a bite of a piece of a bar, after which his mustache twirls in euphoric delight and he exclaims that he has gone crazy from this chocolate.

His relationship with Gala is quite complicated. On the one hand, from the very beginning of their relationship, she promoted him, found buyers for his paintings, convinced him to paint works that were more understandable to the mass audience (the change in his painting at the turn of the 20-30s was striking), shared with him the luxury, and need. When there was no order for paintings, Gala forced her husband to develop product brands and costumes: her strong, decisive nature was very necessary for the weak-willed artist. Gala was putting things in order in his studio, patiently putting away canvases, paints, and souvenirs that Dali had scattered senselessly while looking for the right thing. On the other hand, she constantly had relationships on the side, in later years the spouses often quarreled, Dali's love was rather a wild passion, and Gala's love was not without calculation, with which she married a genius. In 1968, Dali bought a castle for Gala in the village of Pubol, in which she lived separately from her husband, and which he himself could visit only with the written permission of his wife. In 1981, Dali developed Parkinson's disease. Gala dies in the city.

Last years

After the death of his wife, Dali experiences deep depression. His paintings themselves are simplified, and in them for a long time the dominant motif is grief (variations on the theme “Pietà”). Parkinson's disease also prevents Dali from painting. His most recent works (“Cockfights”) are simple squiggles in which the bodies of the characters are guessed - the last attempts at self-expression of an unfortunate sick person. It was difficult to care for a sick and distraught old man; he threw himself at the nurses with whatever came to hand, screamed, and bit. In 1984, there was a fire in the castle. The paralyzed old man rang the bell unsuccessfully, trying to call for help. In the end, he overcame his weakness, fell out of bed and crawled towards the exit, but lost consciousness at the door. He was taken to hospital with severe burns, but survived. Sick and frail, Dali died on January 23, 1989 from a heart attack. The only intelligible phrase he uttered during the years of illness was “My friend Lorca”: the artist recalled the years of his happy, healthy youth, when he was friends with the poet Federico García Lorca. Dali's body is walled up in the floor in one of the rooms of the Dali Theater-Museum in Figueres. The artist bequeathed to bury him so that people could walk around the grave.

Plaque on the wall in the room where Dali is buried

Some works

• Self-Portrait with Raphael's Neck (1920-1921) This is one of Dali's first works. Made in an impressionist style.

• Portrait of Luis Buñuel (1924) Like "Still Life" (1924) or "Puristic Still Life" (1924), this picture created during Dali’s search for his manner and style of execution, the atmosphere is reminiscent of the paintings of De Chirico.

• Flesh on the Stones (1926) Dali called Picasso his second father. This canvas is made in a cubist manner unusual for El Salvador, like the previously painted “Cubist Self-Portrait” (1923). In addition, Dali also painted several portraits of Picasso.

• The Gizmo and the Hand (1927) Experiments with geometric shapes continue. You can already feel that mystical desert, the manner of painting landscapes characteristic of Dali of the “surrealist” period, as well as some other artists (in particular, Yves Tanguy).

• The Invisible Man (1929) Also called "Invisible", the painting shows metamorphosis, hidden meanings and contours of objects. Dali often returned to this technique, making it one of the main features of his painting. This applies to a number of more late paintings, such as, for example, “Swans Reflected in Elephants” (1937) and “The Appearance of a Face and a Bowl of Fruit on the Seashore” (1938).

• Enlightened Pleasures (1929) Reveals Dali's obsessions and childhood fears. He also uses images borrowed from his own “Portrait of Paul Eluard” (1929), “Riddles of Desire: “My Mother, My Mother, My Mother” (1929) and some others.

• The Great Masturbator (1929) The painting, like Enlightened Pleasures, is a field for studying the artist’s personality.

• William Tell (1930) Rethinking the role and essence of the Swiss folk hero, presenting him in the film as an overbearing father who, with his pressure, his “dictatorship,” fetters the development and personal maturation of his son. The father's phallus on display, the scissors in his hand, is an illustration of the Freudian idea of ​​the castration complex that a son experiences, suppressed by the image of his father.

• The Persistence of Memory (1931) One of the most famous works Salvador Dali. Like many others, it uses ideas from previous works. In particular, this is a self-portrait and ants, a soft watch and the shore of Cadaqués, Dali’s birthplace.

• Paranoid Transformations of Gala's Face (1932) It’s like a picture-instruction for Dali’s paranoiac-critical method.

• Retrospective Bust of a Woman (1933) Surreal item. Despite the huge bread and cobs - symbols of fertility, Dali seems to emphasize the price at which all this is given: the woman’s face is full of ants eating her up.

• The Mystery of William Tell (1933) One of Dali's outright mockeries of Andre Breton's communist love and his leftist views. Main character according to Dali himself, this is Lenin in a cap with a huge visor. In “The Diary of a Genius,” Dali writes that the baby is himself, screaming “He wants to eat me!” There are also crutches here - an indispensable attribute of Dali’s work, which retained its relevance throughout the artist’s life. With these two crutches the artist supports the visor and one of the leader’s thighs. This is not the only famous work on this topic. Back in 1931, Dali wrote “Partial Hallucination. Six apparitions of Lenin on the piano."

• Mae West's face (used as a surreal room) (1934-1935) The work was realized both on paper and in the form of a real room with furniture in the form of a lip-sofa and other things.

• Woman with a Head of Roses (1935) Head of roses is more like a tribute Arcimboldo, an artist beloved by the surrealists. Arcimboldo, long before the advent of the avant-garde as such, painted portraits of court men, using vegetables and fruits to compose them (eggplant nose, wheat hair, etc.). He (like Bosch) was something of a surrealist before surrealism.

• The Pliable Structure with Boiled Beans: A Premonition of the Civil War (1936) Like Autumn Cannibalism, written the same year, this picture is the horror of a Spaniard who understands what is happening to his country and where it is heading. This painting is akin to “Guernica” by the Spaniard Pablo Picasso.

• Venus de Milo with boxes (1936) The most famous Dalian item. The idea of ​​boxes is also present in his paintings. This can be confirmed by “Giraffe on Fire” (1936-1937), “Anthropomorphic Locker” (1936) and other paintings.

• Telephone - Lobster (1936) A so-called surrealistic object is an object that has lost its essence and traditional function. Most often it was intended to evoke resonance and new associations. Dali and Giacometti were the first to create what Salvador himself called “objects with a symbolic function.”

• Sunshine Table (1936) and Poetry of America (1943) When advertising has become a part of everyone's life, Dali resorts to it to create a special effect, a kind of unobtrusive culture shock. In the first picture he casually drops a pack of CAMEL cigarettes onto the sand, and in the second he uses a bottle of Coca-Cola.

• Metamorphoses of Narcissus (1936-1937) Or "The Metamorphosis of Narcissus". Deeply psychological work.

• The Riddle of Hitler (1937) Dali himself spoke differently about Hitler. He wrote that he was attracted to the Fuhrer’s soft, plump back. His mania did not cause much enthusiasm among the surrealists, who had leftist sympathies. On the other hand, Dali subsequently spoke of Hitler as a complete masochist who started the war with only one goal - to lose it. According to the artist, he was once asked for an autograph for Hitler and he made a straight cross - “the complete opposite of the broken fascist swastika.”

• Slave Market with the Appearance of Voltaire's Invisible Bust (1938) One of Dali's most famous "optical" paintings, in which he skillfully plays with color associations and angles of view. Another extreme famous work of a similar kind is “The Gala, looking at the Mediterranean Sea, at a distance of twenty meters turns into a portrait of Abraham Lincoln” (1976).

• A dream caused by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate a second before awakening (1944) This bright picture has a feeling of lightness and instability of what is happening. In the background is a long-legged elephant. This character appears in other works, such as The Temptation of St. Anthony (1946).

• Naked Dali, contemplating five ordered bodies, turning into corpuscles, from which Leonardo’s Leda is unexpectedly created, fertilized by the face of Gala (1950) One of many paintings dating back to the period of Dali’s passion for physics. It breaks images, objects and faces into spherical corpuscles or some kind of rhinoceros horns (another obsession demonstrated in diary entries). And if an example of the first technique is “Galatea with Spheres” (1952) or this painting, then the second is based on “The Explosion of Raphael’s Head” (1951).

• Crucifixion or Hypercubic Body (1954) Corpus hypercubus - a painting depicting the crucifixion of Christ. Dalí turns to religion (as well as mythology, as exemplified by The Colossus of Rhodes (1954)) and writes biblical stories in his own way, bringing a considerable amount of mysticism into the paintings. The wife Gala is now becoming an indispensable character in “religious” paintings. However, Dali does not limit himself and allows himself to write quite provocative things. Such as “The Sodom Self-Pleasure of the Innocent Maiden” (1954).

• Last Supper (1955) The most famous painting, showing one of the biblical scenes. Many researchers still argue about the value of the so-called “religious” period in Dali’s work. The paintings “Our Lady of Guadalupe” (1959), “The Discovery of America through the Dream of Christopher Columbus” (1958-1959) and “Ecumenical Council” (1960) (in which Dali depicted himself) - prominent representatives paintings of that time.

The canvas presents in its entirety scenes from the Bible (the supper itself, Christ’s walking on water, the crucifixion, prayer before the betrayal of Judas), which are surprisingly combined, intertwined with each other.

The biblical theme occupies a significant position in the works of Salvador Dali. The artist tried to find God in the world around him, in himself, imagining Christ as the center of the primordial Universe (“Christ of St. John of the Cross”, 1951).

Dali sculptures

Salvador Dali in 1972

The image of Dali in cinema

see also

Notes

Literature

• Delassin S. Gala for Dali. Biography married couple. M., Text, 2008.
• George Orwell. The privilege of spiritual shepherds. Essay. - Lenizdat, 1990.

Links

Salvador Dali, 1939

1. Translated from Spanish, "Salvador" means "savior". Salvador Dali had an older brother who died of meningitis several years before the birth of the future artist. The desperate parents found solace in Salvador's birth, later telling him that he was the reincarnation of his older brother.

2. Full name Salvador Dali - Salvador Domenech Felip Jacinth Dali and Domenech, Marquis de Dali de Pubol.

3. The first exhibition of paintings by Salvador Dali took place in municipal theater Figueres when he was 14 years old.

4. As a child, Dali was an unbridled and capricious child. With his willfulness, he achieved literally everything that a small child could wish for.

5. Salvador Dali served time short term in prison. He was arrested by the Civil Guards, but since the investigation did not find any reason to keep him in prison for a long time, Salvador was released.

6. Entering the Academy fine arts, Salvador had to take a painting exam. Everything was given 6 days - during this time Dali had to complete a full-sheet drawing of the antique model. On the third day, the examiner noted that his drawing was too small, and, violating the rules of the exam, he would not enter the academy. Salvador erased the drawing and on the last day of the exam presented a new ideal version of the model, only it turned out to be more less than the first drawing. Despite breaking the rules, the jury accepted his work because it was perfect.

Salvador and Gala, 1958

7. A significant event in the life of Salvador was the meeting with Gala Eluard (Elna Ivanovna Dyakonova), who at that time was his wife French poet Fields of Eluard. Later, Gala became Salvador's muse, assistant, lover, and then wife.

8. When Salvador turned 7 years old, his father was forced to drag him to school. He caused such a scandal that all the street vendors came running to scream. Not only that, in the first year of study little Dali he learned nothing - he even forgot the alphabet. Salvador believed that he owed this to Mr. Traiter, who is mentioned in his biography “The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, Told by Himself.”

9. Salvador Dali is the author of the Chupa Chups packaging design. Chupa Chups founder Enric Bernat asked Salvador to add something new to the wrapper, as the growing popularity of the candy required a recognizable design. In less than an hour, the artist sketched out a design for the packaging, which is now known as the Chupa Chups logo, albeit in a slightly modified form.

Dali with his father, 1948

10. A desert in Bolivia and a crater on the planet Mercury are named after Salvador Dali.

11. Art dealers are afraid latest works Salvador Dali, since there is an opinion that during his life the artist signed blank canvases and blank sheets paper so that they could be used for forgeries after his death.

12. In addition to the visual puns that were an integral part of Dali's image, the artist also expressed surrealism verbally, often building sentences on obscure allusions and wordplay. Sometimes he spoke a strange combination of French, Spanish, Catalan and English languages, which seemed like a fun, but at the same time incomprehensible game.

13. The most famous picture The artist’s “Persistence of Memory” has very small dimensions - 24x33 centimeters.

14. Salvador was so afraid of grasshoppers that it sometimes drove him to a nervous breakdown. As a child, his classmates often used this. “If I were on the edge of an abyss and a grasshopper jumped into my face, I would rather throw myself into the abyss than endure its touch. This horror has remained a mystery in my life.”

Sources:

1 en.wikipedia.org

2 Biography “The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, Told by Himself,” 1942.

3 en.wikipedia.org

4 en.wikipedia.org

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25 interesting facts about Pablo Picasso 20 interesting facts about Vincent Van Gogh

Name: Salvador Dali

Age: 84 years old

Place of birth: Figueres, Spain

A place of death: Figueres, Spain

Activity: painter, graphic artist, sculptor, director, writer

Family status: was married

Salvador Dali - biography

A dashingly curled mustache, a crazy look, eccentric antics - everyone saw him as a madman. But behind the outer shell of an eccentric there was a shy and complex person. This is Salvador Dali.

Salvador Dali - childhood

The family of Don Salvador Dali y Cusi was extremely happy about the appearance of their first child. They decided to name him after his father. However, the boy did not live long - he died of meningitis. The parents were overwhelmed with grief, and only the birth of another son brought them back to life. There was no doubt: this baby is the reincarnation of the first! Besides, he looks like him like two peas in a pod. The boy was also named Salvador.

When the child grew up a little, he was brought to his brother’s grave. He looked in fascination at his own name on the marble slab...

Salvador Dali - enfant terrible

Residents of the Spanish town of Figueres surrounded the boy who was screaming heart-rendingly. A policeman intervened:

Yes, open your own shop and give the child a lollipop! - the law enforcement officer turned to the frightened shopkeeper, who simply asked the boy to wait until the siesta was over.

The children didn't like him. Having learned that Salvador was afraid of grasshoppers, they began to put them in his notebook and throw them down his collar. The unfortunate man cried and screamed, but there was no one willing to console him. The only outlet was drawing. At the age of six, he scratched his first sketch on a wooden table - a pair of swans, and at ten he already became an artist with his own, rather original vision of the surrounding reality.

Parents tried not to limit the young genius in anything. They gave him a separate room with a bathroom for his workshop. When it was hot, Salvador would fill the bathtub with cold water, sit in it and paint on canvas. The easel was a ribbed washing board.

Salvador Dali - career

In 1921, Salvador went to the Academy of San Fernando to hone his visual skills. He wrote an examination picture, but the commission said that the work was too small in size and gave him a chance to improve. However, a couple of days later Dali brought a drawing even smaller than the previous one. The academics gave in and accepted the gifted eccentric into the course. A few years later, he fully “repaid” his teachers for their kindness. During the exam, he told the commission: “I’m not going to demonstrate my skills to you, because none of you know as much as I know.” The arrogant know-it-all was expelled.

However, the years of study at the Academy were not in vain for Dali. He searched for himself, tried new movements - Cubism, Dadaism, wrote a lot, read Freud. But the most powerful surge of his talent happened when the artist arrived in Paris. There he met his idol - and there he joined the surrealists, whose canvases were full of allusions and bizarre forms.

Salvador Dali - biography of personal life

In a circle of surrealists, Dali first saw the woman who was destined to become the most important person in his life, the incomparable Gala.

Elena Dyakonova is 36, he is 25. Quite a youth, considering that Dali did not know women. Shortly before this, he became interested in his close friend, the poet Federico García Lorca, but the connection was not something serious.

Something trembled deep inside and made his legs give way when he saw Gala. Far from being a beauty, but what charisma! It’s no wonder that her husband, the poet Paul Eluard, kept his eyes open - as long as no one took her away. It didn’t help: she started affairs left and right. In the surrealist circle, she was mysteriously nicknamed “the muse.” Dali Gala noticed immediately. After looking at his work, I realized that she had real talent in front of her. And Salvador himself has already fallen recklessly in love.

The father did not like his son’s chosen one, but Dali was ready to quarrel with the whole world for the sake of his beloved. At first, he signed one of the paintings with the words: “Sometimes I spit with pleasure on the portrait of my mother,” although he always loved his mother dearly. Then he sent his father an envelope with his sperm and a note: “Here is everything I owe you.” He turned the whole world against himself, and in 1934 he married Gala, who left her husband and daughter for him.

Finally, the wind of change blew: it turned out that the artist was known and loved in America. It was decided to go overseas.

While World War II was raging in Europe. Dali and Gala enjoyed the artist's American triumph. Money flowed like a river. Walt Disney himself invited Dali to work with him on the cartoon. True, it turned out to be so strange that they decided not to release it on screens. Later, the artist was offered advertising contracts, and he readily agreed.

Outside observers saw Dali as a crazy eccentric who does whatever comes into his head. In fact, he did what Gala wanted. After the wedding, he signed even some of his paintings “Gala Salvador Dali.”

She enjoyed the gullibility of a genius. She had many young lovers, and Dali had to put up with this. Soon he, too, began to have affairs on the side. So, in 1965, Amanda Lear appeared in his life. A strange character: there were rumors that in the past she was a man... But who cares, because Salvador needed a loved one. He still painted, but his paintings were in such demand that the artist stopped creating and began to stamp. One day Gala saw Dali painting: he took paint, dipped the brush into a bath of water and splashed it on the canvas: “And so they will buy it!”

In 1968, Gala wished to be alone. Salvador bought her a castle in Pubol. He could come there only with the prior permission of his muse. The artist suffered, but this was only the beginning. A few years later, he learned that he had Parkinson's disease. Gala immediately gave up on Dali: what good is he now?

The disease progressed. The artist had difficulty drawing - he simply drew squiggles. Gala brought him empty sheets of paper and forced him to sign on them - so that she could then draw something on them herself and sell it, passing it off as a master’s drawing.

But he continued to love Gala. When she died in 1982. Dali locked himself in her castle and received virtually no visitors. He left his home only because of a fire. Partially paralyzed, Dali called for help, but no one came... The artist had 20% of his body burned, but he survived miraculously.

He did not want to return to Pubol. He settled in his native Figueres, in his own museum, which he founded in 1974. Sick and weak, he dreamed of being buried here. When Salvador Dali died of a heart attack on January 23, 1989, the coffin with his body was placed under one of the slabs on the floor. Now every day hundreds of fans step on his grave, just as the artist himself wanted.