Perhaps one of the world’s greatest artists is the Hispanic artist Salvador Dali. He won many awards and became very successful in his work as an artist. During his childhood and thereafter, during the Depression, Salvador Dali’s artwork and personality were influenced by many different people and entities. Dali’s personal life exhibited to his contemporaries and those who enjoyed his works after his lifetime the various influences that led to his artistry. During his childhood, his family life was difficult and operose. This had an extensive influence on Salvador and his artwork.
His father opposed Salvador’s chosen occupation. By the time the young wonder was twenty years old; his father had already disowned him. Both his mother and his father were embarrassed and disappointed by their son and his vocation. Dali’s uncongenial side showed through in a painting titled The Enigma Of William Tell, which depicted Lenin nearly nude with a deformed buttock supported by a crutch.
The group found this picture to be offensive because of the disrespect it showed to the proletariat. Dali’s obsession with Hitler also angered the Surrealists and made the group demand explanations of his works. Within the same time period, Dali managed to offend the International Exhibition of Surrealist Art by wearing a diving suit to a convention and almost suffocating himself in the suit. On the other hand, Dali was also an achiever.
He worked very hard on whatever he was doing to attain success. He collaborated with magazines like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Town & Country. Dali also wrote books. His most famous publications of this time period were La Femme Visible and Conquest of the Irrational. He also wrote a small article titled ‘Minotaure’, which explained the symbolic function of surrealism.
Dali worked on costumes and scenery for the plays ‘Labyrinth’, “Sentimental Colloquy’, and ‘El Cafe De Cuintas’, to name a few. His paintings were numerous and praiseworthy during the time of the Depression. He had his own exhibits in New York and Paris. He painted many works during this point in this life and many of them became famous. For example, both The Persistence of Memory and Six Apparitions of Lenin on a Piano were phenomenal successes. Dali was influenced by many things in his career as an artist.
Two who inspired him early in life were artists Juan Gris and Seurat. Dali admired these artists because their styles were unique. Another of his influences was Italian Metaphysical School. The people there taught Dali to become a more meditative and relaxed person.
His later influences differed quite a bit from his earlier ones. His biggest influence was his wife Gala, with whom he had a wonderful relationship. Gala kept her husband alive through the Great Depression by inspiring him to work, during the hard times and the good. Gala was originally the wife of one of Dali’s friends. Gala and Salvador fell in love after meeting at an art convention. Gala divorced her husband and married Dali.
Another of Dali’s greatest influences was Sigmund Freud and his teachings on psychoanalysis. Dali liked this style of painting because it confused the analysis of his artwork. Freud studied and approved of Salvador’s works. Still another of Dali’s influences was meditation and dreams.
These two things played a big part in Dali’s artwork. Dali discovered most of his paintings in his dreams. Throughout his life, Dali’s influences were many and varied. His artistry reflected their disparity and strength.
People of all sorts enjoy his art. Nevertheless, Dali remains one of the most controversial artists of all time. He will continue to inspire wonder and awe in people worldwide for many years to come.