SALVADOR DALI’ 1/4 – He was born on May day, in Figueres, Spain. From an early age, he was encouraged to practice his art. In the 1920s, he went to Paris and began interacting with many artists (such as Picasso, Magritte and Miró). This Spanish artist and Surrealist icon, is perhaps best known for his painting of melting clocks, “The Persistence of Memory” (he rise of fascist leader Francisco Franco in Spain, led to the artist’s expulsion from the Surrealist movement). At early age, he was producing highly sophisticated drawings, and both of his parents strongly supported his artistic talent. He (along with his younger sister Ana Maria and his parents), often spent time at their summer home, in the coastal village of Cadaques.
SALVADOR DALI’ 2/4 –His parents built for him an art studio in Cadaques. In 1916, sent him to drawing school at the Colegio de Hermanos Maristas and the Instituto, in Figueres. In 1921, his mother died. He was 16 years old at the time, and was devastated by this loss. His father married his deceased wife’s sister. Dali soon brought his eccentricity to a new level, dressing in the style of English Aesthetes of the late 19th century and growing long hair and sideburns. In 1922, he enrolled at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, where he began exploring many forms of art (including classical painters like Raphael, Bronzino and Diego Velázquez).
SALVADOR DALI’ 3/4 – Between 1926 and 1929, he made several trips to Paris, where he met with Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró, who introduced him to Surrealism. By this time, he was working with styles of Impressionism, Futurism and Cubism. He attributed his love of everything that is gilded and excessive, his passion for luxury and his love of oriental clothes, to an “Arab lineage” (claiming that his ancestors were descended from the Moors). He developed a keen interest in natural science and mathematics (this is manifested in several of his paintings).
SALVADOR DALI’ 4/4 – In September 1938, he was invited by Gabrielle Coco Chanel to her house, on the French Riviera, where he painted numerous paintings. In 1940, he retreated to the United States, where lived for eight years, splitting time between New York and California. His paintings became associated with man’s universe and sensations, sexual symbolism, ideographic imagery. He was a skilled draftsman (best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work). In one morning of January, while was playing his favorite record of Tristan and Isolde, he died at Figueres at the age of 84. He was buried in the crypt below the stage of his Theatre and Museum in Figueres.
To pursue this issue, you can also read:
http://meetingbenches.com/2016/11/salvador-dali-19041989-spanish-painter-start-paint-like-old-masters-will/
http://meetingbenches.com/2016/11/salvador-dali-dream-classic-pisa-palazzo-blu-february-5-2017/
