Other artists

Mother of Spain

The Persistance of Memory

The Last Supper

The Halucinating Toreador

Young Virgin Autosodomized by her Own Chastity....(who else would call a painting this?)

Morte Vivante

Here is an essay I wrote, on the development of modern art in the twentieth century and the life and work of Dal�, it is as complete as My knowledge allows and lacks a conclusion. I am open to suggestions.

The twentieth century brought about rapid change in technology, science, and social values and habits. Although artists may be geniuses guided by their own creative ideas, they are also largely products of their societies. Despite a change in public taste an artist's work can be considered a valid aesthetic statement of a particular time and place . Thus with the rapid scientific, technological and social development, art itself has evolved greatly in the twentieth century. Several new styles of art developed including Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism, Neoplasticism, Precisionism, and Minimalism.

One of these new art movements was surrealism. Surrealists wrote, painted and sculpted to set people free of the constraints of society. Their work was based on Sigmund Freud's theory of, "The unconscious to undermine traditional conventions." They meant to change the world through their art. Andr� Breton, the leader of the French surrealist movement, believed rather seriously that art not only had the ability but the duty to change life. By painting their dreams and their nightmares, they inspired the world to explore areas not explored before. By painting what the artist interpreted, rather than what everybody else saw, the surrealists started of a revolution, which set people free from constraints of conformity. Previously, artists painted what everybody saw, e.g. an apple, but the surrealists did not only see the apple but the whole tree, and so this is what they painted. Artworks were no longer simply pictures of real objects, but became projections of that which both the artist and the viewer interpreted in the objects. A sense of individualism developed, and freedom of thought became increasingly important.

One example of was Salvador Dal�'s The Persistence of Memory (Fig. 1) which was inspired by a dream of runny camembert cheese. Dal� used the images of limp watches to illustrate the danger of his relationship with the former wife of the French poet Paul Eluard, "going limp," or losing it's value, over time. The painting was painted after he had met Gala. Gala had made Dal� feel liberated, and his fear of losing her, as time progressed, was the theme of The Persistence of Memory.

Fig. 1 : The persistence of memory , Salvador Dal� (1931, Museum of Modern Art, New York City)

In the early twentieth century the visual arts had a kind of social importance they can no longer claim. Art was looked at in a very different light. Works of art sent those who viewed them, on new trains of thought. The world relied on art to set them free from the constraints of conformity. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century artists started experimenting. Around this time cultural and social habits also changed dramatically. Art was not only a way of explaining and illustrating these changes, but also a source of inspiration. Artists helped society to explore and understand their changing world.

Artists also changed a great deal due to the fact that they were no longer commissioned to do work for emperors and kings, but they had to produce work and make a name for themselves in order to sell their work. Many artists made a name for themselves, simply by being different. They shocked the public and became household names. This is how they sold their work and survived.

I recently visited the Peggy Guggenheim collection in Venice and the Salvador Dal� exhibition in Rome. Salvador Dal�'s work intrigued me greatly, as his work reflected so much about himself. His artwork gave me an insight into his life, and I could see myself in similar situations to those depicted in his artwork.

We can see the development of individualism in Salvador Dal�'s life and work, as he did not promote his work as much as he promoted himself. Both through self publicizing and through his work. Salvador Dal� became a household name as he himself became a work of art with his crooked smile and his waxed mustache. He believed himself to be the modern day reincarnation of Diego Velazquez, who lived a life of isolation in the court of Philip IV. Dal� himself actually bore a resemblance to the classical master, and waxed his mustache to resemble Velazquez's Portraits.

In this essay I will review the development of art in the twentieth century to give context to the development of Surrealism. I will also discuss the work and life of Salvador Dal� as one of the greatest Surrealists of the twentieth century, in my opinion. I will also review the life and work of Joan Mir�, one of the more lively figures of the surrealist movement in the early and mid twentieth century. The work of both Salvador Dal� and Joan Mir�, emphasize the importance of the artist rather than the work of the artist. Their work served as a reflection of themselves as opposed to the work of earlier artists who's works were simply depiction's of everyday life.

ORIGINS OF MODERN ART

Modern art started developing, around the 1860's in French 19th-century avant-garde painting. The avant-garde's methods reflected a fundamental questioning of political and philosophical assumptions underlying art. They also became more interested in the styles in which they painted. How the object was painted rather than what it looked like became the focus. The emphasis was placed on the artist and how he painted, rather than on the work of art itself. Later in the century the post-impressionism was born. Members of the post-impressionist movement, created styles that would largely set the course of painting in the first years of the twentieth century.

The impressionists, post-impressionists, and cubists, all had something in common: They were all interested not in realism, but in personal freedom of expression, although impressionists works were very realistic in that they played with the effects of light on objects and also looked very closely at the colors out of which an image consisted. These art movements greatly emphasized the importance of the artist in the artwork.

It was from this search for personal freedom of expression that Dadaism was born. Dadaism was an art and literary movement that reflected a protest against all aspects of Western culture. The word dada, the French word for hobbyhorse was selected at random from a dictionary.

The Dada movement was established in the middle of World War I in 1916, by Tristan Tzara a Romanian-born poet, the German writer Hugo Ball, and Jean Arp in Switzerland. A similar group was born in New York led by Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, and Francis Picabia, and another in Paris where it became the inspiration for the later Surrealist group of Andr� Breton. After World War I the movement spread to Germany and many of members from the Swiss group joined the group in Paris.

The Dadaists used artistic and literary methods, that were sometimes incomprehensible, in order to express their rejection of aesthetic and social values of their time and society. One example is Marcel Duchamp's Fountain , in which he took a urinary fountain, laid it on it's back and signed it R. Mutt. (Fig. 2) While doing this he achieved what many Dadaists had striven to do, he demanded attention, and got it. When he took his "work" to an exhibition, he outraged the committee. They all disputed whether it could be considered his work. But the exhibition was open to all and they had to accept his entry.

Fig. 2: Fountain, Marcel Duchamp (1917 Indiana University Art Museum)

The Dadaists' performances were written to shock and bewilder their audiences. They meant to make the public think about their lives and reconsider the aesthetic values and ways accepted by the societies in which they lived.

The Dadaists used novel materials, for example waste found in the streets and unexpected everyday objects. They also used new methods to create their works including letting chance determine certain elements of their works. An example is the German painter and writer, Kurt Schwitters, who was known for using waste paper and similar materials.

The French painter Marcel Duchamp used commercial products to create works of art, which he called ready-mades.

Although the Dadaists used new and surprising methods and materials, their art was based on the revolt against standards, which came from the belief in the essential goodness of mankind when not distorted by society. They were against the labeling of people and felt that stereotypes only corrupted the good nature of mankind.

Dada had lost its force by 1922, although some of its members joined the new Surrealist movement. Surrealism was very close to Dadaism as both Surrealists and Dadaists use the element of chance in the creation of their work.

Giorgio De Chirico's dreamlike paintings of abandoned city squares, from several years before the start of the movement, were already demonstrating early Surrealist ideas. It was several years after Giorgio De Chirico's abandoned city squares made their appearance, in 1924 when the movement was finally realized and named by the French writer Andr� Breton. He focused on the importance of dreams and imagination in the creation of art. The group assumed Sigmund Freud's theory of, "The unconscious to undermine traditional conventions." They used their artwork to promote freedom of thought.

Although they all shared the fact that the inspiration for their work was irrational and impulsive, the Surrealists' styles differed greatly from one another. The Surrealists did however paint in two main styles. The one was figurative style. The style in which Max Ernst, Salvador Dal�, Ren� Magritte Paul Delvaux, and Man Ray painted. Other members of the group, including Jean Arp, Andr� Masson, Yves Tanguy, and the Spaniard Joan Mir�, painted in a more abstract style.

Salvador Dal�

As mentioned earlier, another big change in the work of an artist during the twentieth century was the fact that his work became a reflection of himself. What he painted was not what was there, but what he interpreted in what he saw. One of the greatest self publicists, and also one of the greatest Surrealists, in my opinion, of the twentieth century was Salvador Dal�:

"At the age of six I wanted to be Napoleon-and I wasn't. At the age of fifteen I wanted to be Dal� and I have been. At the age of twenty-five I wanted to become the most sensational painter in the world and I achieved it. At thirty-five I wanted to affirm my life by success and I attained it. Now at forty-five I want to paint a masterpiece and to save Modern Art from chaos and laziness. I will succeed!"--Dal�

Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dal� was born 11 May, 1904 in the small Spanish town of Figueres in the province of Catalunya. He was not the first born however and his name had been given to a older brother who died in infancy. His shadow always lingered over Dal� and he always felt that he was the second Salvador. Three years later his sister was born. She often featured in his paintings.

Dal� was Catalan and proud to be. Following the Catalan tradition, Dal� often included food in his work, as in Anthropomorphic Bread - Catalan Bread. (Fig. 3).Other food in his work included eggs carrots and cheese. In Anthropomorphic Bread - Catalan Bread, we see Dal�'s obsession with limp and firm objects. This painting very much reflects Dal�'s relationship with his wife Gala, here we see a seemingly firm piece of bread being kept up with a piece of rope. The rope can be seen as that which keeps Dal�'s relationship with Gala firm. The limp watch also makes it's appearance again, reflecting Dal�'s fear of losing Gala as time progresses.

Fig. 3: Anthropomorphic Bread - Catalan Bread, Salvador Dal� (1932, St. Petersburg (FL), The Salvador Dal� Museum, on loan from E. and A. Reynolds Morse)

In 1921 Dal�'s mother died and he was accepted at the Escuela Especial de Pintura, Escultura y Grabado de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. This is where he met Federico Garc�a Lorca and Luis Bu�uel. Later in 1923 Dal� was expelled from the Academy for criticizing his lectures and disturbing the peace in the academy. He was also arrested for political reasons. Dal� was not as politically active as some of the other surrealists but his paintings very often had strong political messages. As in The Enigma of William Tell (Fig. 4) in which he gave William Tell the face of Lenin. This was meant to shock and outrage his fellow surrealists as he very often did. In this painting we can also see Dal�'s preoccupation with limp and in-erect objects which need to be supported onto reality with crutches. This came from Dal�'s own fear of impotence.

In 1929 Dal� fell in love with, and married, the former wife of French poet, Paul Eluard: Dlena Diakonova, known as "Gala". She gave emotional, financial, and artistic support. With her help, he became established in Paris as a notable painter

Dal�'s union with Gala was the cause of the final fight between Dal� and his father. Dal� was disowned by his father and moved into a fisherman's shack in the small village of Port Llitgat, not far from the French border.

Fig. 4: The enigma of William Tell, Salvador Dal� (1933, Stockholm, Moderna Museet)

In 1930 Dal� joined the Paris Surrealist group led by Andr� Breton. Nine years later in 1939, Dal� was excluded from the group after several arguments, about political issues in his work, with group members. After his separation from the group Dal� became a serious surrealist and developed his paranoiac critical method. He defined his paranoiac-critical activity as "spontaneous method of original knowledge based upon the interpretive-critical association of delirious phenomena." Dal� sold more paintings and became financially successful. He bought additional fisherman's shacks and expanded his Port Llitgat home. The area around his home made a permanent impression on him and the scenes around Port Llitgat appeared in many of his paintings. The rocky coastline inspired several of his paintings, including The Enigma of Desire - My Mother, my Mother, my Mother

Dal�'s later works displayed a more classical style, and his later themes included themes such as history, religion and science. As in The Temptation of Saint Anthony (Fig. 5). Here is one of the best examples of Dal�'s fascination with the Christian religion. He included the same theme in several of his paintings using crosses and other religious symbols.

Other characteristics of Dal�'s work include, high gloss brilliant colors and high detail. He also incorporated double images in several of his works, as we can see in The Hallucinogenic Toreador . In the bottom right corner of The Hallucinogenic Toreador we can see a small boy dressed in a sailors suit. Dal� used this boy to represent himself faced with objects which he fears greatly, mainly sex appeal and women. Although he is frightened he holds a hoop in his hand, which is a female symbol.

In early 1980, while they were in New York City, both Dal� and Gala suffered from pneumonia for several months. Dal� was very depressed, and he and Gala returned to Spain. In 1982 Gala died and Dal� moved into the villa at Pubol, which he had given to Gala as a gift. In 1984 Dal� was severely burnt in a fire caused by a short circuit in his room at Pubol. Dal� had successful skin grafts but died from a heart attack, in 1989 in Figueres.

Fig. 5: The Temptation of Saint Anthony, Salvador Dal� (1946, Brussels, Mus�es Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique)