Salvador Dalí

Salvador Dalí (1904-1989)
A Spanish artist and writer, Dalí joined the Paris Surrealists in 1929, shortly after the premiere of Un chien andalou, a film he had co-written with Luis Buñuel. A child prodigy, Dalí began painting at age six, exploring a wide range of styles and approaches, before finally arriving at Surrealism in 1927. His paintings capture the dream state in a remarkably realistic way, overflowing with Freudian symbolism, unrestrained sexual desires and childhood memories. Utilizing his paranoiac-critical method, Dalí's "dream photographs" depict a subconscious world of mysterious landscapes and melting objects, with great attention paid to elements of Nature - the earth, sky, clouds, water, pebbles, insects, animals, fruit, etc. While exploring his deepest obsessions and fantasies, Dalí conjured up unforgettable surrealist images, often containing hidden figures and double meanings. Among his many masterpieces are The Lugubrious Game (1929), The Great Masturbator (1929), The Bleeding Roses (1930), The Persistence of Memory (1931), The Phantom Cart (1933) and Atavistic Vestiges After the Rain (1934).

Dalí's explorations were not limited to painting. He also created photographs, sculptures, holographs, jewelry, clothing, stage scenery, film scripts and literature. In 1939 he designed and oversaw the construction of the Dream of Venus, a surrealist funhouse at the World's Fair in New York. During the 1940s, he published his autobiography The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí and collaborated with Philippe Halsman on several memorable photographic experiments, including Nude With Popcorn (1948), Dalí Atomicus (1948), and Dalí and the Skull (1951). Finally, in 1974, the Dalí Theatre and Museum, a building conceived and designed by the artist himself, was opened in Figueres, Spain.

Though, in later years, Dalí's endless self-promotion and megalomania led Breton to dub him "Avida Dollars", there is no denying the profound impact he had on Surrealism. Responsible for an immense collection of powerful images, Dalí emerged as the Movement's most recognizable figure.

Source: http://www.surrealism-plays.com/surrealist-artists.html

 

Late in his career, Dalí did not confine himself to painting, but experimented with many unusual or novel media and processes: he made bulletist works. Many of his works incorporated optical illusions, negative space, visual puns, and trompe l'oeil visual effects. He also experimented with pointillism, enlarged half-tone dot grids (which Roy Lichtenstein would later use), and stereoscopic images. He was among the first artists to employ holography in an artistic manner. In his later years, young artists such as Andy Warhol proclaimed Dalí an important influence on pop art.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Dal%C3%AD http://www.theartstory.org/movement-surrealism.htm