Salvador Dali – Melancholy Atomic Uranic Idyll
Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, from 1982 Marqués de Dalí de Púbol (* May 11, 1904 in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain; † January 23, 1989 ibid), was a Spanish painter, graphic artist, writer, sculptor and stage designer. One of the main representatives of Surrealism, he is one of the most famous painters of the 20th century.
Around 1929, Dalí had found his personal style and genre, the world of the unconscious that appears in dreams. Melting clocks, crutches and burning giraffes became identifying features in Dalí’s painting. His painterly technical skill allowed him to paint his canvases in an Old Master style reminiscent of later Photorealism.
Dalí’s most common subjects, besides the world of dreams, are those of intoxication, fever, and religion; his paintings often feature his wife Gala. Dalí’s sympathy for the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, his eccentric behavior, and his late work often led to controversies in the evaluation of his person and his works up to the present day.
Dalí was later elevated to the peerage by Spanish King Juan Carlos as a supporter of the Alphonsian monarchists – he himself called himself anarcho-monarchist[3]. He and Gala became Marquis and Marquise de Dalí de Pubol. Earlier, he was inducted into the Order of Isabella the Catholic. The noble title disappeared into the grave with Dalí, as no children were known of him. In 1981, he was decorated with the Medalla d’Or de la Generalitat de Catalunya, the highest Catalan award.
Dalí was also known for his mustache, which was thin, elongated and gracefully curved. Like antennae, both mustache tips pointed upward or were curled. Dalí claimed that he received inspiration from the cosmos through his whiskers. His mustache was inspired by that of another world-famous Spanish painter, Diego Velázquez.
In 1982, his wife and lifelong muse Elena Djakonova died, aged 89.
On Jan. 23, 1989, Dalí himself died of cardiac arrest in the Galatea Tower of the Dalí Theater Museum in Figueres, where he lived for the last years of his life. He was buried here in a crypt under the stage.
To open a pdf with the works in your browser, click here: 12 Works of Salvador Dali
