The first thing I realized when I started on this blog, is that I have been spelling the name "Dali" incorrectly. For whatever reason, I was putting an "h" in there. At any rate, "Dali" or "Dahli" was an incredible artist.
I am the type of person who, when looking at a painting, likes to be able to identify the content. In other words, I want a tree to look like a tree. I find works that are large and done in mass media to be confusing and not as truly artistic as one that is balanced in content, done in one media and is of a scene I can identify. Art of the Renaissance is more to my liking. And while I find the "fuzzy" paintings of Monet colorful, I tend to dismiss them as not serious work. Don't even get me started on cubism. Naked women with long, square faces and upside down features--really?
So, after all of that, it would stand to reason that I would not like the artwork of Salvator Dali. Wrong. It was fantastic.
One of my favorite features of the work is that it appeared as many small paintings encompassed into one work. And, it looked different if you were standing right in front it and then, when you moved 5 or 10 feet back to view it.
Dali was born in 1904 and died in 1989. He was 12 when he started to study art at the Institute of Figueres in Spain. At 13, the institute awarded him a diploma of honor for his work. His first art exhibit happened when he was 18. Wow.
Early on, Dali considered himself to be a "surrealist." He painted his dreams. Our tour guide told us that he slept with a tea cup on his stomach to wake him when he moved around while having a dream. He would get up, outline his dream and turn it into a painting.
If you are ever in the St. Petersburg area, go and walk in his dreams.
The 1958 wedding photo of Gala and Salvador Dali
Taken at the gallery: "The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus," 1958. You can see the feet of Columbus stepping onto the soil of the New World. Above the ship is a small rendition of Ferdinand and Isabella receiving Columbus. Most interesting--the "ball" in the front of the painting represents man stepping on the moon in the future.
Taken at the gallery: "The Hallucinogenic Toreador," 1969. I love this one. At first glance, did you see the large face in the background that is made up of the center Venus figure? This is the face of an "invisible toreador. The roses are for passion, the bull is near the bottom of the painting next to the center Venus figure. This is Dali's vision of life and death.
Taken at the gallery: "The Ecumenical Council," 1960. Part of this refers to Pope John XXIII's meeting with the archbishop of Canterbury in 1960, which was a gesture of religious ecumenicism. It is divided into two parts: heaven and earth.
Taken at the gallery: Galacidalacidesoxiribunucleicacid: "Homage to Crick and Watson," 1963. Crick and Watson identified the molecular structure of DNA. The title means: Gala = his wife. CID = tribute to the Spanish soldier, El Cid. Ala = God. The rest is the full name of what we call DNA. This is the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. The "blocks" on the right signify DNA building blocks.
Taken from our Dali book: "Fountain of Milk Spreading Itself Uselessly on Three Shoes," 1945. Probably my least favorite of his work, this represents his post war feelings. Dali saw the war as senseless and destructive. The milk signifies nursing the world back to heath. The rock represents ruin.
Taken from our Dali book: Daddy Longlegs of the Evening--Hope!," 1940. This is also a war related work. The main "face" is of a man with jaundiced and loose skin. A face of death. The woman in the painting is melting away from the fatigue of war. A horse emerges from a cannon, but the "daddy longlegs" on the man's face, appears as a symbol of hope for the future.
Taken from our Dali book: "The Average Bureaucrat," 1930. Ah, from my real working days. Love it. At first glance, you see a round, highlighted area with holes. Look again, this is a man with a bowed head. We are seeing sea shells in a hole in his head....representing protective armor and only hearing what he wants to hear. The figure is large--important to himself. How true!
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