A dalliance with Dali
- Advika Jalan
- Mar 14, 2020
- 3 min read
I have admired Dali's work since I was 15. I pored over art books in my school library, and always lingered on Dali's works because of his brilliance, technical perfection and metaphorical depth.
My favourite painting by him is Metamorphosis of Narcissus. In Greek mythology, Narcissus was an extraordinarily beautiful but arrogant man, who was cursed for his pride by Nemesis, the goddess of revenge. He was cursed to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water, and waste away pining for his beloved (himself). As he died, the gods took pity on him and turned him into a flower- the Narcissus. Dali's painting (below) is a beautiful representation of this story.
I love his use of optical illusions in his paintings: my other favourites are The Face of War (which shows a skeletal face, within whose eye sockets are skeletal faces, and this pattern repeats itself to infinity. What a grotesque yet powerful way of showing that the horrors of war are endless), Persistence of Memory (which shows his iconic melting clocks- suggesting that nothing is rigid or definite in time and space), Swans Reflecting Elephants (his technical mastery speaks for itself).
Dali's style falls within the Surrealist Movement- where reality is juxtaposed with dreams and fantasy. When looking at a surrealist painter's work, you will find yourself thinking that this must be the outcome of a drug-induced hallucination, because it looks so bizarre.
Interestingly, Salvador Dali never did drugs. In his own words- "I don't do drugs. I am drugs." He created the "paranoiac- critical" style of painting, which involved keeping himself in a state between wakefulness and dreaming, to induce hallucinations. He used to stare at everyday objects long enough till they seemed to transform in front of his eyes. That's why his paintings are aptly described as "surreal."
I love his paintings because of the sense of freedom I experience when gazing at them. In Dali's world, there are no rules or rigidity- a world of infinite possibilities. The sheer cleverness of expression in his paintings, coupled with his technical mastery are an intellectual and visual treat.
The paintings are as fascinating and controversial as the painter himself. Dali was an egomaniacal fascist sympathizer, and he was reviled for his well- documented amoral acts (he recounted them unabashedly in his autobiography). Despite everything, Dali was irresistible. His flamboyant personality, his outrageous theatrics, his eccentricities and his passion for life kept him in the limelight, contributing greatly to his commercial success. Indeed, I can think of no one better to defy the stereotype of the impoverished artist.
For all his faults, I can't help but admire the artist. He was authentic and bold- he was unafraid to be himself in a world of conformists.
He was brilliant and he knew it. He was expelled from university because he refused to be examined by his professors, as he considered them unworthy of examining him. He married his friend's wife Gala, who was ten years elder to him, and his friend even attended the wedding! He lived life on his own terms, regardless of society's opinion, and I was privileged to experience his life at Dali's Theatre-Museum in Figueres, Spain.
Walking through the Theatre-Museum felt like walking through one of Dali's paintings. It reminds you of Joker's quote in The Killing Joke- "We aren’t contractually tied down to rationality! There is no sanity clause." While cliches are the last things I would use in the context of Dali as he is anything but, I could see the method in his madness. The sense of liberty I experienced defies description.
Speaking of defying description, I thought it would be better to show you the Theatre Museum rather than describe to you what it's like- I don't think my words could do justice to it.
I think we could use a bit of Dali daily. Live life with a passion that transforms something ordinary, like a basket of bread, to something extraordinary. I loved that line in the movie August Rush- "the music is all around us, all you have to do is listen" and I feel Dali brings the same essence to life, that the art is all around us- all we have to do is look.
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