Salvador DALÍ and SURREALISM

It is attributed to Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) the phrase "the difference between me and the surrealists is that I am surrealism", and it is that, although it started with contemporaries, this eccentric and unclassifiable artist who strove to distance himself and exclude himself from any movement. Something that did not prevent it from becoming a true icon of the 20th century and one of the most emblematic representatives of Surrealism.

His most important and impressive contribution was his paranoid critical method, still used by many artists to get original inspiration by exploring the subconscious. In this lesson from unPROFESOR.com we offer you a summary of the main characteristics of Salvador Dalí and surrealism.

Exaggerated, narcissistic, unique, Salvador Dalí is one of the most influential, popular and excellent painters of the 20th century. A multifaceted and prolific artist and, of course, the most famous surrealist. Although his pictorial production is the most remembered, throughout his career he also dedicated himself to sculpture, fashion, advertising, engraving and writing and cinema, his collaborations with Luis Buñuel and García Lorca in “Un perro Andalusian"; with Alfred Hitchcock and with Disney.

Salvador Dali was born in Figueras in 1904, Being the son of a wealthy family, he began to paint at a very young age, impressing his surroundings, who advised him to study at the School of Fine Arts in Madrid. Expelled several times from this institution for his eccentric behavior and his comments against authority, Dalí left for Paris.

There he met Picasso, to his wife and his muse, Gala Éluard, as well as the rest of his contemporaries as Man Ray, Max Ernst, Louis Aragon, André Masson and especially to André Breton, author on Surrealist manifesto (1924). A movement of which he was part, although he became detached over time.

Always controversial, Dalí worked in the US, in Hollywood, to return to Spain, where he died in 1980.

The Surrealism was a artistic and literary movement of the avant-garde the twentieth century, being founded by André Breton in 1924Its main object being the expression of the subconscious through painting, literature, photography, cinema and sculpture. The principles of surrealism went against reason, rationalism and positivism.

Breton defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism" through which to express the real functioning of thought without the control of reason and free from any moral or aesthetic concern. Breton believed that Dalí's originality lay in the fact that he participated both as an actor and as a spectator.

Characteristics of Salvador Dalí's surreal art

To finish knowing the relationship between Salvador Dalí and surrealism, we are going to list the most outstanding characteristics of the works of this artist:

• Dalí is considered as one of the pioneers of the surrealist movement, applying his ideology to everything he created. An artist who was always bold and controversial in his creations.
• Dalí was based on the freudian theory to create a powerful visual language capable of capturing his dreams, nightmares and hallucinations. Some images that became iconic.
• The main topics he addressed were death, eroticism and decadence, reflecting in his works his theories the psychoanalysis. Thus, based on his own life and his childhood memories, his entire work is full of symbolism, from religious symbols to animals or fetishes. The landscapes created by the surreal Dalí are real and dreamlike at the same time, full of melancholy.
• Dalí subscribed to André Breton's surrealist theory of automatism, ultimately creating his own system, the paranoid critical system. A state that allows the artist to maintain a certain control over the artist's visions, contradicting André Breton's idea of ​​pure automatism. An attitude that meant the exclusion of Dalí from the surrealist movement, in addition to some statements policies that were interpreted as fascist and that received the condemnation of many of their contemporaries.
• The paranoid-critical method of Salvador Dalí It is a technique developed by the French psychoanalyst Lacan. A method that requires overcoming daily perception and making those everyday obsessions and fantasies understandable to viewers. Dalí analyzed, criticized and reworked his own thoughts, dreams and visions before capturing it.
• His work was also adopted and admired by the pop Art, inspiring his work to many commercial works in advertising, cinema, photography and fashion, popularizing his figure and his work. Many of his works are iconic and are a reference for many artists and creatives. An iconography that is already part of the world cultural heritage.
• Dalí always chose transgressive positions, rebellious and free, getting to make of itself a profitable brand. This caused him to be highly criticized for the commercialization of his work and his figure. “Avid Dollars” was the anagram that André Breton created to criticize Dalí. A first step for the "Surreal judgment" to which Dalí was subjected and after which he was forever expelled from the circle of intellectuals and artists of the movement. A fact that motivated that phrase of "I am surrealism" that Dalí said.