Born in 1904, Salvador Dali is known for his technical skill as a painter and the shocking quality of his imagination. He was the only surviving male child of a prosperous Catalan family that divided its time between Figueres and the coastal village of Cadaqués.
He had an older brother also named Salvador Dalí (October 12, 1901-August 1, 1903) that died at the young age of 1 year and 9 months. Consumed with pain, Dalí's parents wasted no time in begetting another child. He was born nine months later and was named after his brother. This deceased brother was a ghost rival of Dalí's throughout his childhood and was a disturbing influence in his psychological make-up. He grew up under the feeling that the first Salvador Dalí was the real one and he a mere forgery.
From his earliest years as an artist he exhibited his work widely, lectured, and wrote. Dalí's expansive artistic repertoire included film, sculpture, and photography, in collaboration with a range of artists in a variety of media. His best-known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in 1931.
Dali consistently depicted the landscape of his homeland, one that became synonymous with the landscape of the imagination and of dreams. In the 1920's Dali went to Paris and began interacting with Picasso, Magritte and Miro leading to his first Surrealist phase. In 1922, Dalí enrolled in the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, Spain, and stayed at the student residence. There he brought his eccentricity to a new level, wearing long hair and sideburns, and dressing in the style of English Aesthetes of the late 19th century.
Surrealist-turned-catholic painter Dali worked on various movies as well. While a member of the French surrealist group, he co-wrote Un Chien Andalou (1929) and L'Age d'Or (1930) with Luis Buñuel. Often sporting an exaggeratedly long mustache, cape and walking stick, Dalí's public appearances exhibited some unusual behavior. At a ball held in his honor Dalí, in characteristic flamboyant style, appeared wearing a glass case across his chest which contained a brassiere.
In 1982, King Juan Carlos bestowed on Dalí the title of Marqués de Dalí de Púbol in the nobility of Spain, hereby referring to Púbol, the place where he lived. To show his gratitude for this, Dalí later gave the king a drawing (Head of Europa, which would turn out to be Dalí's final drawing) after the king visited him on his deathbed. He forged in his long career a remarkable body of work and his life demonstrates the richness of living creatively in every aspect of one's existence.
May 22, 2013
I. C.
