Salvador Dali Salvador Dali, one of the most famous artists of the 20th century, was very active even in the latter part of his life. He not only painted but also showed to be creative in the artistic world in general. He traveled, and along the way learned different techniques of painting, but always went back to paint as he described it hand-painted dream photographs’. (Sandoval, 1998). Dali emerged as a leader of the Surrealist movement, where he was the most faithful and only true surrealist, although he was later expelled from because of his political views and more traditional work. During this time he created a painting, Persistence of Memory (1931), which is still one of the best-known surrealist works. (Sandoval, 1998). Dali’s work was different from others since all of his discoveries and inventions are reflected in his work and appear in them in a scarcely transposed form. He and Gala later moved to the United States, during World War II, where he devoted himself to self-publicity and began to paint pictures of religious themes. One of these paintings includes The Crucifixion of St John of the Cross, (1951).
During this time, he also showed the world that he was not only a great painter but had other talents as well. For example, he designed jewelry, apartments, clothing, costumes, shop interiors, and stage sets. Along with this he also worked for Vogue and Haper’s Bazaar. (Neret, 1997) This also led him to take part in the production of films such as, ‘An Andalusian Dog’ and ‘The Golden Age’, where he worked in collaboration with Bunuel. (Folkes, 1999) Gigantism was predominant in Dali’s late work. The paintings that he created during this part of his life were a combination of all of the styles, which he had worked on.
They include Surrealism, “quintessential pompier”, pointillism, action painting, Tachisme, geometric abstraction, Pop art, Op art, and psychedelic art. (Neret, 1997) Some of these pictures include. The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus (1958-59), and Tuna Fishing (1966-67). Stereoscopy was also used by Dali in some of his paintings such as Dali from the Back, Painting Gala from the Back, Etermalized by Six Virtual Corneas Provisionally Reflected in Six Real Mirrors (1972-73) or Dali Lifting the Skin of the Mediterranean Sea to Show Gala the Birth of Venus (1977), to name a couple, to paint his last visual poems. Neret, 1997). Dali also had a couple of exhibits in the final stage of his life. Some of these included exhibits in Rome and Venice, nuclear mysticism, in 1951, and at the National Gallery, in Washington, DC, in 1956. Dali continued to work on paintings and books and continued to travel to promote his latest creations, until the death of his wife Gala in 1982. A year later the creation of his perfume known as “Dali” came out along with his last painting, The Swallow’s Tail. Neret, 1997). He then lived in isolation from the world for a few years in Torre Galatea when he began to endure some health issues. A few years later, on January 23, 1989, Dali died of heart failure.
References
Folkes, S. T. (1999) Salvador Dali, Life. History. Art. Retrieved February 29, 2004, from http://www. seven7. demon.co.uk/dali/history.
Neret, G. (1997).
Salvador Dali. San Diego, CA: Thunder Bay Press Sandoval, J. (1998)
Salvador Dali Biography. Retrieved February 29, 2004, from http://www.duke.edu