Salvador Dalí: The Self-Professed Genius of Surrealism
Salvador Dalí was a peculiar man and not at all someone easy to wrap your head around. There is a lot of debate around whether Dalí was confident, cocky, or just plain mad. This was a man who once declared, “Every morning upon wakening, I experience a supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dalí, and I ask myself, wonderstruck, what prodigious thing will he do today, this Salvador Dalí?” Clearly modesty was not a trait that this man possessed, and it’s safe to assume this self-professed genius’ ego knew no bounds. His voice was loud, his actions were bold, and he was never one to shy away from controversy.
Many felt he was a money-hungry fame-seeker, ready to jump at any opportunity to make some cash and steal some limelight. If you ask me, I think Dalí may have been overcompensating, going to great lengths to assert his identity by masking some deep-rooted insecurities, such as being imprinted at the age of five with the idea that he was the reincarnation of his dead brother. Pretty heavy stuff for a child to wrap their head around. Whatever the case may be, no one can deny the man had tremendous talent, and Salvador Dalí is widely known today not only for his brushstrokes on the canvas but because he put himself out there, heading in a direction where many others were too afraid to go.
The rise to stardom of the mustachioed Spanish master, both as an artist and as a brand, can be credited to his belief that public relations was more important than the talent itself. He became a master at exploiting PR and manipulating the media, using it as a platform to push boundaries and turn himself into a household name. While many considered his actions to be acts of lunacy, every aspect of his eccentricity was in fact very carefully choreographed, from his waxed moustache coiffed to perfection to his provocative statements. Imagine yourself walking into a Manhattan bookstore in 1962 and seeing Salvador Dalí lying in a bed wired to a machine tracing his brain waves, a stunt he actually staged to promote his book The World of Salvador Dalí.
As an art lover who dabbles in some pastime painting of my own, the surrealist artists, Dalí in particular, have always had a big influence on me, so naturally, when I had the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of one of the 20th century’s most prolific artists, I jumped at the chance. I left Barcelona and headed to the Costa Brava on the Mediterranean in Spain en route to Cadaqués for a tour of the Dalí House in nearby Port Lligat. The charming narrow streets of Cadaqués, brimming with Dalí propaganda, are like a shrine to the artist. Folks here are no doubt ‘Team Dalí’.
At first glimpse, the Dalí House is not what you would generally expect from the artist. You may think that he lived in a giant melted clock or cracked egg, but such is not the case. In fact, his home appears pretty conservative for a man with such a vivid imagination. It’s not until you make your way inside and through the surrounding gardens that you truly plunge into the world of the Dalí we all know.
Walking through his home feels otherworldly and is a testament to Dalí’s ability to take his creativity and skills beyond the canvas and into the world of design and architecture. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea of course, unless you’re big on phallus-shaped pools, taxidermy swans and scattered cracked eggs around the grounds of your home. Being there gives you a sense of how highly Dalí and his wife, Gala, thought of themselves. From the thrones in the elaborate backyard cabana to the endless newspaper and magazine clippings lining the walls, the Dalí House is a nod to its owners’ success.
Dalí quickly became an artist that was not limited to a particular style or media, adding graphics, sculptures, films, photographs, performance pieces and even jewelry to his repertoire. He got his hands into as much as he could and even carved out a place for himself in Hollywood, collaborating with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and Walt Disney. He didn’t stop there of course. He pushed himself even further, venturing into television commercials and packaged goods for brands like Alka-Seltzer and Chupa Chups. I had no idea how far this man’s portfolio stretched. What I always thought was just another run-of-the-mill lollipop, turns out has a rich history behind it with the great Salvador Dalí having designed what is now an iconic logo. He was often criticized for venturing too far outside the box, with some referring to his foray into advertising as ‘selling out’, in which one writer from Publisher’s Weekly said, “Salvador Dalí’s swan-dive from Surrealist visionary to pathetic self-parody surely constitutes one of this century’s great case studies in career suicide.”
Looking back at Dalí’s extensive career, there is no doubt he created a name for himself that has endured the test of time. Though he may have been considered too flamboyant or progressive for the times, he knew what he was doing and must have had a clear line of sight of things to come. Dalí blazed the trail and has influenced what art has become today. Whether you are of the mind that Dalí was just supremely confident or an egomaniacal madman, his unyielding passion, tremendous skill and dedication to his work were undeniable, and will continue to define how creative people approach their work for years to come.
In the art world, there are countless famous works of art that we all recognize, but can we always name the artist behind them? There are a handful of artists whose signature styles make their pieces easily recognizable, like Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Picasso, Warhol, Pollock, and of course Dalí, whose painting The Persistence of Memory (if you’ve never seen this painting before, you’ve definitely been living under a rock!) has made him the most famous representative of the Surrealist movement and quite possibly the most widely recognized artist in the world.
Salvador Dalí was a peculiar man and not at all someone easy to wrap your head around. There is a lot of debate around whether Dalí was confident, cocky, or just plain mad. This was a man who once declared, “Every morning upon wakening, I experience a supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dalí, and I ask myself, wonderstruck, what prodigious thing will he do today, this Salvador Dalí?” Clearly modesty was not a trait that this man possessed, and it’s safe to assume this self-professed genius’ ego knew no bounds. His voice was loud, his actions were bold, and he was never one to shy away from controversy.
Many felt he was a money-hungry fame-seeker, ready to jump at any opportunity to make some cash and steal some limelight. If you ask me, I think Dalí may have been overcompensating, going to great lengths to assert his identity by masking some deep-rooted insecurities, such as being imprinted at the age of five with the idea that he was the reincarnation of his dead brother. Pretty heavy stuff for a child to wrap their head around. Whatever the case may be, no one can deny the man had tremendous talent, and Salvador Dalí is widely known today not only for his brushstrokes on the canvas but because he put himself out there, heading in a direction where many others were too afraid to go.
Salvador Dalí’s swan-dive from Surrealist visionary to pathetic self-parody surely constitutes one of this century’s great case studies in career suicide.The rise to stardom of the mustachioed Spanish master, both as an artist and as a brand, can be credited to his belief that public relations was more important than the talent itself. He became a master at exploiting PR and manipulating the media, using it as a platform to push boundaries and turn himself into a household name. While many considered his actions to be acts of lunacy, every aspect of his eccentricity was in fact very carefully choreographed, from his waxed moustache coiffed to perfection to his provocative statements. Imagine yourself walking into a Manhattan bookstore in 1962 and seeing Salvador Dalí lying in a bed wired to a machine tracing his brain waves, a stunt he actually staged to promote his book The World of Salvador Dalí.
As an art lover who dabbles in some pastime painting of my own, the surrealist artists, Dalí in particular, have always had a big influence on me, so naturally, when I had the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of one of the 20th century’s most prolific artists, I jumped at the chance. I left Barcelona and headed to the Costa Brava on the Mediterranean in Spain en route to Cadaqués for a tour of the Dalí House in nearby Port Lligat. The charming narrow streets of Cadaqués, brimming with Dalí propaganda, are like a shrine to the artist. Folks here are no doubt ‘Team Dalí’.
At first glimpse, the Dalí House is not what you would generally expect from the artist. You may think that he lived in a giant melted clock or cracked egg, but such is not the case. In fact, his home appears pretty conservative for a man with such a vivid imagination. It’s not until you make your way inside and through the surrounding gardens that you truly plunge into the world of the Dalí we all know.
Walking through his home feels otherworldly and is a testament to Dalí’s ability to take his creativity and skills beyond the canvas and into the world of design and architecture. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea of course, unless you’re big on phallus-shaped pools, taxidermy swans and scattered cracked eggs around the grounds of your home. Being there gives you a sense of how highly Dalí and his wife, Gala, thought of themselves. From the thrones in the elaborate backyard cabana to the endless newspaper and magazine clippings lining the walls, the Dalí House is a nod to its owners’ success.
Dalí quickly became an artist that was not limited to a particular style or media, adding graphics, sculptures, films, photographs, performance pieces and even jewelry to his repertoire. He got his hands into as much as he could and even carved out a place for himself in Hollywood, collaborating with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and Walt Disney. He didn’t stop there of course. He pushed himself even further, venturing into television commercials and packaged goods for brands like Alka-Seltzer and Chupa Chups. I had no idea how far this man’s portfolio stretched. What I always thought was just another run-of-the-mill lollipop, turns out has a rich history behind it with the great Salvador Dalí having designed what is now an iconic logo. He was often criticized for venturing too far outside the box, with some referring to his foray into advertising as ‘selling out’, in which one writer from Publisher’s Weekly said, “Salvador Dalí’s swan-dive from Surrealist visionary to pathetic self-parody surely constitutes one of this century’s great case studies in career suicide.”
Looking back at Dalí’s extensive career, there is no doubt he created a name for himself that has endured the test of time. Though he may have been considered too flamboyant or progressive for the times, he knew what he was doing and must have had a clear line of sight of things to come. Dalí blazed the trail and has influenced what art has become today. Whether you are of the mind that Dalí was just supremely confident or an egomaniacal madman, his unyielding passion, tremendous skill and dedication to his work were undeniable, and will continue to define how creative people approach their work for years to come.