Dali's Birthday

The Rogue Speaks:

Am I the only one whose post disappeared into the blogasphere? It is such a shame that it had to happen for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday! Now I have to try and recreate it! I hope I can remember what I wrote!!!

Salvadore Dali's 107th birthday was on May 11, the day I published my post. He was born in Figueres, Spain in 1904. His career as an artist was practically a given, since he showed great promise at a very young age.

Dali studied in Madrid at the Royal Academy of Art. He was twice kicked out, and when graduation rolled around, he never took his final exam because he thought he knew a lot more, and was more talented than any of his professors.

After he "graduated," Dali went to Paris where he met two of his fellow countrymen, artists Pablo Picasso, and Joan Miro. He more or less named himself the leader of a group of surrealists that had been headed by Andrew Breton. No one in the group really complained about Dali's self-appointed role, but years later, Breton wrote Dali off as being too full of himself, and financially greedy.

By 1929, Dali had developed a style that would make him famous. The surrealists had a theory based on the works of Freud regarding the dream world of the unconscious mind. They painted their dreams! Dali, because he was a superb craftsman, was able to paint his dreams with near photographic accuracy. His most recognized work, The Persistence of Memory, is a good example of his technique.



Dali is the only known artist who had two museums dedicated to his work while he was still alive. The first, The Dali Museum, in St. Petersburg, Florida, was founded in 1971. The Dali Museum-Theater in Figueres, Spain is the second. It was at this museum that Dali had shown his first works when he was only 14 years old. It was opened in 1974 as the Theatro Museo Dali.

Dali's first one-man show was in New York in 1933. In 1934, Pablo Picasso gave Dali $500 as a grant to come to America. In 1940 Dali chose to make America his permanent residence in order to evade World War II. He had many spectacular exhibitions, including one at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

He quickly became the darling of high society, and was greatly sought after for portrait commissions from famous people such as Jack Warner. Dali also dabbled in jewelry and clothing design, and even worked with Alfred Hitchcock on film-making.
Dali's love of the bizarre was evident! Below is a photograph of his famous Lobster Telephone. I don't think I would want to put that receiver to my ear!



Yes, of course Dali had a love interest. And yes, she was a married woman. She was Gala Eluard, a Russian immigrant, ten years his senior. Gala stayed with Dali as his "friend with benefits," his model, his muse, and his business manager. She was also a strong stabilizer in his life, and helped to make his art a success in Europe and the United States. Gala divorced her husband in 1932, and in 1934, she and Dali were married.



Dali developed palsy which caused his hands to tremble uncontrollably, and made them very weak. He was forced to retire in 1980, and this, combined with the death of Gala in 1982, caused Dali to fall into a deep depression.

After Gala died, Dali moved to a castle called Pubol, which he had bought and decorated just for Gala. Unfortunately, a fire destroyed the castle, and left Dali badly burned.

Dali moved to the tower of his museum in Figueres, and lived there until his death from heart failure in 1989.

Whew! I hope I haven't left anything out from my original post. I had some nice comments which have now disappeared. Maybe those nice bloggers will come back and let me know if I covered everything this time. Oh, and if anyone knows how I can avoid losing any more posts, please tell me! I am off now to finish reading all the other offerings.