Biography of Salvador Dali, interesting facts and quotes from Dali's friends. Journey into the wonderful world of Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali (1904─1989) - the great spanish artist and sculptor, writer, graphic artist, director. One of the brightest and most talented representatives of the surrealist trend in painting.

Birth and family

In the northeastern part of Spain, not far from Barcelona, ​​there is a small town of Figueres. At the very beginning of the 20th century, on May 11, 1904, the future genius Salvador Dali was born in this place. His family at that time consisted only of parents - the father of Don Salvador Dali y Cusi and the mother of Dona Filipa Domenech. Later, El Salvador had a sister, Anna Maria.

Before that, there was already one son in the family, but he died of meningitis in 1903, a little before he was two years old. When the future artist was only 5 years old, while visiting the grave of his brother, his parents had the imprudence to say that Salvador was his reincarnation. From that moment on, Dali had an obsession that his parents did not love him at all, but their older deceased brother in the person of Salvador. Ideas of this kind will be characteristic of a genius all his life.

But the parents actually loved both Salvador and his younger sister very much. The family was of average income, dad was a wealthy public notary, mom was engaged in housekeeping and raising children. The father was an atheist, while the mother, on the contrary, was an unshakable Catholic, thanks to her insistence, the children regularly attended church.

Childhood and school years

The father and mother gave the children the most worthy education they were capable of, given their financial situation. In 1910 the boy was sent to primary school"Immaculate Conception" Christian Brothers.

Dali grew up as a very smart child, but for unknown reasons he himself claimed the opposite. He was unruly and arrogant. Once, while with his mother in the marketplace, Salvador threw a tantrum over a lollipop. The sweet shop was closed for the siesta, but the boy yelled so loudly that the policemen passing by begged the merchant owner to open the shop and sell the child the ill-fated candy. El Salvador achieved his goal by any means: he was capricious, feigned, attracted the attention of outsiders.

Because of this character at school, Dali did not succeed in making friends with the guys. In addition, carry out the usual school life he was hindered by all sorts of phobias and complexes. Even from school, he began to show some kind of split personality. He played with the boys gambling, but when he lost, he behaved like a winner. So he could not find common ground with classmates and make sympathy or friendship with at least one of them. A strange, eccentric child caused a corresponding reaction in the children. When the children found out that Dali was terribly afraid of grasshoppers, they began to catch these insects and throw them by the collar. He began to have wild tantrums, which amused the children. One only child, with whom El Salvador had at least some kind of human relationship, was the future Barcelona footballer Josep Samitier.

Painting training

He showed his talent for drawing early years, V school textbooks and in the marginal notebooks, he often drew caricatures to make his little sister laugh. Family friend Ramon Pichot was an impressionist painter, he noticed the boy's abilities and helped him develop in this direction.

In the town of Cadaques by the sea, the Dali family had a small house. Here in 1916 the vacation of the future artist took place. He liked to communicate with the lower strata of society, he talked for a long time with local workers and fishermen, eagerly studied the superstitions and mythology of his people. Perhaps even then in his creative talent intertwined mystical themes.

In parallel with receiving a regular education, the boy was enrolled in the municipal art school where he studied fine arts. After graduating here, he entered the Academy of the Brothers of the Marist Order in Figueres, where the Spanish artist Nunez taught Dali the methods of the original engraving.

In 1921, a tragedy struck the family: my mother died of cancer.

Madrid

After the death of his mother, Dali decided to leave for Madrid. He persuaded his father to let him go and help him enter the Academy fine arts.

In 1922, Salvador Dali prepared a drawing for the entrance exams, which turned out to be too small. The caretaker from the Academy told Dali's father about this, and he, already tired of his son's whims, in a good way asked him to redraw it. Three days remained, but Salvador was in no hurry to write, which drove his father to white heat. On the day of the exam, the young man told his father that he had made a drawing, only even smaller than the previous one, for the parent such a challenge was a strong blow. But the commission considered high skill in Dali's work and accepted him into the Academy.

He began his studies in Madrid and settled in a student hostel for gifted young people. Along with his studies, Dali was very fond of the works of Freud, flaunted in society, made new useful acquaintances.

Salvador wrote a lot at this time, introduced new trends into his paintings: cubism and Dadaism.

But in 1926, despite his talent, Salvador was expelled from the Academy for a disgusting arrogant and dismissive attitude towards teachers. In the same year he left for Paris.

creative path

In French capital Dali met Pablo Picasso. Under his influence, he created a number of paintings that took part in exhibitions and brought popularity to the artist.

Salvador painted in the style of surrealism. Myths intertwined with reality in his paintings, a deep study of psychology according to Freud left a considerable imprint on his work.

In 1937, the artist visited Italy, he was delighted with the works of the Renaissance, after that, in his own paintings even the correct human proportions appeared, but still with surrealistic fantasies.

At the beginning of World War II, El Salvador left for the United States, where he lived until 1948. In America, he also discovered his writing talent, in 1942 his autobiography “ secret life Salvador Dali". Acquaintance with Walt Disney also brought Dali experience in cinema. Director Alfred Hitchcock was filming the film Spellbound, and Salvador wrote the scenery for it.

Returning to Spain, the artist worked hard and, as before, conquered the whole world with his works, exhibitions and outrageous antics.

In 1969, Dali became interested in sculpture, among his most famous works:

• "Gala in the window";
• "Seated Don Quixote";
• « space elephant»;
• "Horse with rider stumbling."

Incredible love story

The famous muse and wife of Salvador Dali was Elena Dyakonova, known throughout the world under the name Gala.

They met in the summer of 1929, at that time Elena was married to the French poet Paul Eluard and at the same time had a lover, Mark Ernst. The woman was too loving, she simply adored sex, could not exist without it.

Gala was 10 years older than Dali. At the time of their acquaintance, he was a young novice artist who came from a provincial town, and Gala is experienced and wise, self-confident and sophisticated, moving from the highest circles of society. He was taken aback by her beauty.

It cannot be said that Gala possessed beauty in the usual sense of the word, she, like a magnet, attracted men to her, they became as if bewitched and lost their heads from this woman.

Gala and Dali became close, but this did not prevent the woman from continuing her relationship with her husband, along the way, still making lovers, while this was considered normal in bohemian circles.

But in the end, she left her husband and in 1930 moved to Dali, she told him then: "My boy, we will never part". She not only satisfied his sexual fantasies, Gala became everything for El Salvador: patroness, business manager, organizer.

It was Gala who made the artist famous all over the world, she used all her connections, arranged exhibitions, wore his work to connoisseurs. And he created with such zeal that one picture had not yet been completed, but another was already asking for canvas. Dali constantly painted his muse, which inspired him so much. Now his paintings were signed with the double name Gala - Salvador Dali.

Husband Paul Eluard last days wrote her love letters full of tenderness. And only after his death in 1952, Gala and Salvador got married.

When Dali began to lose interest in paintings, Gala threw him new idea creating designer furniture. The rich all over the world were ready to give any money for sofas in the shape of women's lips, elephants on thin legs, or for a bizarre clock with a strange dial. Salvador Dali is also the author of the Chupa-Chups caramel packaging design.

Their relationship for the ordinary world seemed strange, for the two of them it was normal. A woman changed lovers like gloves, Dali constantly had fun in the company of young girls, spending a lot of money on them. In 1965, El Salvador had a second muse - Amanda Lear, a 19-year-old model and singer.

But the only woman to whom he completely obeyed was Gala. If not for her, the world might never have known the great genius of Salvador Dali. First, she breathed self-confidence into the young insecure artist, then she fully revealed the full scale of his talent: she made Dali an idol of the planet, while constantly protecting and protecting him. And he bowed before her.

Their amazing relationship lasted 53 years. Gala died in 1982 at the age of 88. Her body was embalmed, put on a red dress and laid in a coffin with a glass lid. In their Pubole castle, during her lifetime, she arranged a crypt for the two of them, and the woman was buried there.

The last years of life and the death of a genius

Dali outlived his wife by 7 years. After the death of Gal, he had a terrible depression, while Parkinson's disease was rapidly developing. He spent last years in seclusion in Pubole Castle, where the woman of his life lay under a glass cover.

He painted a little, but the pictures were very simple, and a thin thread of grief passed through them everywhere.

Over time, he stopped writing, talking, and then moving. The old man went mad, it was almost impossible to take care of him, he bit the nurses, threw anything at them, shouted.

He died on January 23, 1989. Finally, he shocked the whole world with his testament - to bury himself not next to the woman he loves; he asked people to walk over his grave. In the town of Figueres there is a theater-museum of Dali, in one of the rooms under the floor his body is walled up ...

Great and extraordinary person Salvador Dali was born in Spain in the city of Figueres in 1904 on May 11. His parents were very different. Mother believed in God, and father, on the contrary, was an atheist. Salvador Dali's father was also called Salvador. Many believe that Dali was named after his father, but this is not entirely true. Although the father and son had the same names, the younger Salvador Dali was named in memory of his brother, who died before he was two years old. This worried the future artist, as he felt like a double, some kind of echo of the past. Salvador had a sister who was born in 1908.

Childhood of Salvador Dali

Dali studied very poorly, was spoiled and restless, although he had the ability to draw in childhood. The first teacher of El Salvador was Ramon Pichot. Already at the age of 14, his paintings were at an exhibition in Figueres.

In 1921, Salvador Dali left for Madrid and entered the Academy of Fine Arts there. He did not like teaching. He believed that he himself could teach his teachers the art of drawing. He stayed in Madrid only because he was interested in communicating with his comrades. There he met Federico Garcia Lorca and Luis Buñuel.

Studying at the Academy

In 1924, Dali was expelled from the academy for misbehavior. Returning there a year later, he was expelled again in 1926 without the right to reinstatement. The incident that led to this situation was simply amazing. At one of the exams, the professor asked the academy to name 3 of the greatest artists in the world. Dali replied that he would not answer such questions, because not a single teacher from the academy had the right to be his judge. Dali was too contemptuous of teachers.

And by this time, Salvador Dali already had his own exhibition, which he visited himself. This was the catalyst for introducing the artists.

Salvador Dali's close relationship with Buñuel resulted in a film called Andalusian Dog, which had a surrealist twist. In 1929, Dali officially became a surrealist.

How Dali found his muse

In 1929, Dali found his muse. She became Gala Eluard. It is she who is depicted in many paintings by Salvador Dali. A serious passion arose between them, and Gala left her husband to be with Dali. At the time of meeting his beloved, Dali lived in Cadaques, where he bought himself a hut without any special amenities. Not without the help of Gala Dali, they managed to organize several excellent exhibitions that were in cities such as Barcelona, ​​London, New York.

In 1936, a very tragicomic moment happened. At one of his exhibitions in London Dali decided to give a lecture in a diving suit. Soon he began to choke. Actively gesturing with his hands, he asked to take off his helmet. The public took it as a joke, and everything worked out.

By 1937, when Dali had already visited Italy, the style of his work had changed significantly. Too strongly influenced by the work of the masters of the Renaissance. Dali was expelled from the surrealist society.

During the Second World War, Dali went to the United States, where he was recognizable, and quickly achieved success. In 1941, the museum opened its doors for his personal exhibition. contemporary art USA. Having written his autobiography in 1942, Dali felt that he was really famous, as the book sold out very quickly. In 1946, Dali collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock. Of course, despite the success of his former comrade Andre Breton, he could not miss the chance to write an article in which he humiliated Dali - "Salvador Dali - Avida Dollars" ("Rowing Dollars").

In 1948, Salvador Dali returned to Europe and settled in Port Lligate, leaving from there to Paris, then back to New York.

Dali was very famous person. He did almost everything and was successful. All his exhibitions cannot be counted, but the exhibition at the Tate Gallery was most memorable, which was visited by about 250 million people, which cannot but impress.

Salvador Dali died in 1989 on January 23 after the death of Gala, who died in 1982.

May 11, 1904 at 8 hours 45 minutes in Spain in Catalonia (northeast of Spain), Figueres, little Dali was born. Full name Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali i Domenech. His parents are Don Salvador Dali y Cusi and Dona Felipa Domenech. Salvador means "Savior" in Spanish. They named El Salvador in honor of his deceased brother. He died of meningitis a year before Dali was born in 1903. Dali also had younger sister Anna-Maria, who in the future will be the image of many of his paintings. raised by parents little Dali differently. Since from childhood he stood out for his impulsive and eccentric character, his father literally went berserk at his antics. Mom, on the contrary, allowed him absolutely everything.

I pi got into bed almost until the age of eight - only for the sake of his pleasure. In the house I reigned and commanded. Nothing was impossible for me. My father and mother did not pray for me (The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, told by himself)

The desire for creativity in Dali manifested itself with early childhood. From the age of 4, he already begins to draw with zeal, not experienced for a child. At the age of six, Dali attracted the image of Napoleon and identifying himself with him, he felt the need for power. Wearing a masquerade costume of the king, he received great pleasure from his appearance. Well, he painted the first picture when he was 10 years old. It was a small landscape in the impressionistic style, painted oil paints on a wooden board. Then Salvador began to take drawing lessons from Professor Juan Nunez. Thus, at the age of 14, it was safe to see the talent of Salvador Dali in the incarnation.

When he was almost 15 years old, Dali was expelled from the monastic school for bad behavior. But for him it was not a failure, he passed the exams perfectly and entered the institute. In Spain, schools of secondary education were called institutions. And in 1921 he graduated from the institute with excellent marks.
After he entered the Madrid Art Academy. When Dali was 16 years old, he began to get involved along with painting and literature, began to write. Publishes his essays in a self-made publication "Studio". And generally leads enough active life. He managed to serve a day in prison for participating in student unrest.

Salvador Dali dreamed of creating own style in painting. In the early 1920s, he admired the work of the Futurists. At the same time, he makes acquaintances with famous poets of that time (Garcia Lorca, Luis Bonuel). The relationship between Dali and Lorca was very close. In 1926, Lorca's poem "Ode to Salvador Dali" was published, and in 1927, Dali designed the scenery and costumes for the production of Lorca's "Mariana Pineda".
In 1921 Dali's mother dies. The father would later marry another woman. For Dali, this looks like a betrayal. Later in his works, he displays the image of a father who wants to destroy his son. This event left its mark on the artist's work.

In 1923, Dali became very interested in the work of Pablo Picasso. At the same time, problems began at the academy. He was suspended from school for a year for misconduct.

In 1925, Dali held his first solo exhibition at the Dalmau Gallery. He submitted 27 paintings and 5 drawings.

In 1926, Dali completely stopped making efforts to study, because. disappointed in the school. And they kicked him out after the incident. He did not agree with the teachers' decision regarding one of the painting teachers, then got up and left the hall. Immediately, a brawl broke out in the hall. Of course, Dali was considered guilty, although he did not even know about what happened, in the end he ends up in prison, though not for long. But soon he returned to the academy. Eventually, his behavior led to his expulsion from the academy for his refusal to take the oral exam. As soon as he finds out that his last question is about Raphael, Dali said: "... I don't know less than three professors put together, and I refuse to answer them, because I am better informed on this issue."

In 1927, Dali went to Italy to get acquainted with the painting of the Renaissance. While he was not yet in the Surrealist group led by André Breton and Max Ernst, he later joined them in 1929. Breton studied Freud's work in depth. He said that by discovering unexpressed thoughts and desires hidden in the subconscious, surrealism could create new look life and the way it is perceived.

In 1928, he leaves for Paris, in search of himself.

In early 1929, Dali tried himself as a director. The first film based on his script by Luis Bonuel was released. The film was called Andalusian Dog. Surprisingly, the film script was written in 6 days! The premiere was sensational, as the film itself was very extravagant. Considered a classic of surrealism. Consisted of a set of frames and scenes. It was small short film conceived to hurt the bourgeoisie and ridicule the principles of the avant-garde.

In Dali's personal life until 1929 there was nothing bright and significant. Of course, he walked, there were numerous connections with girls, but they never went far. And just in 1929, Dali truly fell in love. HER name was Elena Dyakonova or Gala. Russian by origin, was 10 years older than him. She was married to the writer Paul Eluard, but their relationship was already falling apart. Her fleeting movements, gestures, her expressiveness are like the second New Symphony: it gives out the architectonic contours of a perfect soul, crystallizing in the grace of the body itself, in the fragrance of the skin, in the sparkling sea foam of her life. Expressing the exquisite breath of feelings, plasticity and expressiveness materialize in an impeccable architecture of flesh and blood. . (The Secret Life of Salvador Dali)

They met when Dali returned to Cadaqués to work on an exhibition of his paintings. Among the guests of the exhibition was Paul Eluard with his then wife Gala. Gala became Dali's inspiration in many of his works. He painted all kinds of portraits of her, as well as various images based on their relationship and passion. First kiss, - wrote Dali later, - when our teeth collided and our tongues intertwined was only the beginning of that hunger that made us bite and gnaw each other to the very essence of our being ". Such images often appeared in Dali's subsequent works: chops on the human body, fried eggs, cannibalism - all these images are reminiscent of the frantic sexual liberation of a young man.

Dali wrote in an absolutely unique style. It seems that he painted images known to everyone: animals, objects. But he assembled them and connected them in a completely unthinkable way. Could connect the body of a woman with a rhinoceros, for example, or a melted watch. Dali himself would call it "the paranoid-critical method".

In 1929, Dali had his first solo exhibition in Paris at the Geman Gallery, after which he began his journey to the pinnacle of fame.

In 1930, Dali's paintings began to bring him fame. Freud's work influenced his work. In his paintings, he reflected the sexual experiences of a person, as well as destruction, death. His masterpieces such as "The Persistence of Memory" were created. Dali also creates numerous models from various objects.

In 1932, the premiere of the second film based on the script by Dali, The Golden Age, took place in London.

Gala divorces her husband in 1934 and marries Dali. This woman was throughout Dali's life his muse, deity.

Between 1936 and 1937, Dali worked on one of his most famous paintings, Metamorphoses of Narcissus, and a book of the same name immediately appeared.
In 1939, Dali had a serious quarrel with his father. The father was unhappy with his son's connection with Gala and forbade Dali to appear in the house.

After the occupation in 1940 from France, Dali moved to the United States in California. There he opens his workshop. There he writes his most famous book, The Secret Life of Salvador Dali. After marrying Gala, Dali leaves the surrealist group, because. his and the group's views begin to diverge. “I don’t give a damn about the gossip that Andre Breton can spread about me, he just doesn’t want to forgive me for the fact that I remain the last and only surrealist, but it’s still necessary that one fine day the whole world, having read these lines , found out how everything really happened." ("The Diary of a Genius").

In 1948, Dali returned to his homeland. Begins to get involved in religious-fiction themes.

In 1953, a large-scale exhibition was held in Rome. He exhibits 24 paintings, 27 drawings, 102 watercolors.

In 1956, Dali began a period when the idea of ​​an Angel was the inspiration for his second work. God for him is an elusive concept and not amenable to any specification. God for him is not a cosmic concept either, because this would impose certain restrictions on him. Dali sees God in a set of conflicting thoughts that cannot be reduced to any structured idea. But Dali did believe in the existence of angels. He spoke of this as follows: “Whatever dreams fall to my lot, they are able to give me pleasure only if they have complete certainty. Therefore, if I already experience such pleasure when approaching angelic images, then I have every reason believe that angels really exist."

Meanwhile, in 1959, since his father no longer wanted to let Dali in, he and Gala settled down to live in Port Lligat. Dali's paintings were already very popular, sold for a lot of money, and he himself was famous. He often communicates with William Tell. Under impressions, he creates such works as "The Riddle of William Tell" and "William Tell".

Basically, Dali worked on several topics: the paranoid-critical method, the Freudian-sexual theme, the theory of modern physics and sometimes religious motives.

In the 60s, the relationship between Gala and Dali cracked. Gala asked to buy another house in order to move out. After that, their relationship was already only the remnants of a past bright life, but the image of Gala never left Dali and continued to be an inspiration.
In 1973, the "Dali Museum" opens in Figueres, incredible in its content. Until now, he is amazed by the audience with his surreal appearance.
In 1980, Dali began to have health problems. The death of Franco, head of state of Spain, shocked and frightened Dali. Doctors suspect he has Parkinson's disease. Dali's father died from this disease.

Gala died on June 10, 1982. For Dali, this was a terrible blow. He did not participate in the funeral. They say that Dali entered the crypt only a few hours later. "Look, I'm not crying," was all he said. The death of Gala for Dali was a huge blow in his life. What the artist lost with the departure of Gala was known only to him. He walked alone through the rooms of their house, saying something about happiness and the beauty of Gala. He stopped painting, sat for hours in the dining room, where all the shutters were closed.
Last work"Dovetail" was completed in 1983.

In 1983, Dali's health seemed to have risen, he began to go out for a walk. But these changes were short-lived.

On August 30, 1984, a fire broke out in Dali's house. The burns on his body covered 18% of the skin surface.
By February 1985, Dali's health was on the mend again and he even gave interviews to the newspaper.
But in November 1988, Dali was admitted to the hospital. The diagnosis is heart failure. January 23, 1989 Salvador Dali passed away. He was 84 years old.

At his request, the body was embalmed and kept in his museum for a week. Dali was buried in the very center of his own museum under a simple slab without inscriptions. The life of Salvador Dali has always been bright and eventful, he himself was distinguished by his extraordinary and extravagant behavior. He changed unusual costumes, mustache style, constantly praised his talent in written books ("Diary of a Genius", "Dali According to Dali", " golden book Dali", "The Secret Life of Salvador Dali"). There was such a case when he lectured at the London Rooms Group in 1936. It was held within the framework of International Exhibition surrealists. Dali appeared in the suit of a deep-sea diver.

Salvador Dali painted his first painting when he was 10 years old. It was a small impressionistic landscape, painted on a wooden board with oil paints. The talent of a genius was torn to the surface. Dali spent whole days sitting in a small room specially allocated to him, painting pictures.

"... I knew what I wanted: to be given a laundry under the roof of our house. And they gave it to me, allowing me to furnish the workshop to my liking. Of the two laundries, one, abandoned, served as a pantry. it was heaped up, and I took possession of it the very next day. It was so cramped that the cement tub occupied it almost entirely. Such proportions, as I have already said, revived intrauterine joys in me. Inside the cement tub, I put a chair, on it, instead of desktop, laid the board horizontally. When it was very hot, I undressed and turned on the tap, filling the tub to the waist. The water came from a tank next door, and was always warm from the sun. "

The theme of the majority early work there were landscapes in the vicinity of Figueres and Cadaqués. Another expanse for Dali's fantasy was the ruins of a Roman city near Ampurius. Love for one's native places can be traced in many of Dali's works. Already at the age of 14 it was impossible to doubt Dali's ability to draw.
At the age of 14 he had his first solo exhibition at the Municipal Theater of Figueres. Young Dali stubbornly looking for his own handwriting, but for now he is mastering all the styles he liked: impressionism, cubism, pointillism. "He painted passionately and greedily, like a man possessed"- Salvador Dali will say about himself in the third person.
At the age of sixteen, Dali began to express his thoughts on paper. Since that time, painting and literature have been in equally parts of his creative life. In 1919 he published essays on Velazquez, Goya, El Greco, Michelangelo and Leonardo in his self-made publication Studium.
In 1921, at the age of 17, he became a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid.

"... Soon I began to attend classes at the Academy of Fine Arts. And it took all my time. I did not hang out on the streets, I never went to the cinema, I did not visit my comrades in the Residence. I returned and locked myself in my room to continue work alone. On Sunday mornings I went to the Prado Museum and took catalogs of paintings from different schools. The journey from the Residence to the Academy and back cost one peseta. For many months this peseta was my only daily expense. Father, notified by the director and poet Markin (under the tutelage of whom he left me) that I was leading the life of a hermit, I was worried. Several times he wrote me, advising me to travel around the neighborhood, go to the theater, take breaks from work. But it was all in vain. From the Academy to the room, from the room to the Academy, one peseta a day and not a centime more. My inner life was content with this. And all sorts of entertainment disgusted me. "

Around 1923, Dali began his experiments with Cubism, often even locking himself in his room to paint. At that time, most of his colleagues tried their artistic ability and strength in impressionism, which Dali had been fascinated with for several years before. When Dali's comrades saw him working on cubist paintings, his authority immediately rose, and he became not just a member, but one of the leaders of an influential group of young Spanish intellectuals, among whom were the future film director Luis Bunuel and the poet Federico Garcia Lorca. Acquaintance with them had a great influence on Dali's life.

In 1921 Dali's mother dies.
In 1926, 22-year-old Salvador Dali was expelled from the walls of the Academy. Disagreeing with the decision of the teachers regarding one of the teachers of painting, he got up and left the hall, after which a brawl began in the hall. Of course, Dali was considered the instigator, although he had not the slightest idea about what had happened, on a short time he even ends up in jail.
But soon he returned to the academy.

"... My exile ended and I returned to Madrid, where the group was impatiently waiting for me. Without me, they claimed, everything was "not thank God." Their imagination was hungry for my ideas. I was given a standing ovation, ordered special ties, postponed places in the theater, packed my suitcases, looked after my health, obeyed my every whim, and, like a cavalry squadron, attacked Madrid in order to overcome at any cost the difficulties that prevented the realization of my most unimaginable fantasies.

Despite Dalí's outstanding ability in his academic pursuits, his eccentric dress and demeanor eventually led to his expulsion for his refusal to take the oral exam. When he learned that his last question would be the question of Raphael, Dali unexpectedly declared: "... I do not know less than three professors put together, and I refuse to answer them, because I am better informed on this issue."
But by that time his first solo exhibition had already taken place in Barcelona, ​​a short trip to Paris, acquaintance with Picasso.

"... For the first time I spent only a week in Paris with my aunt and sister. There were three important visits: to Versailles, to the Grevin Museum and to Picasso. I was introduced to Picasso by the cubist artist Manuel Angelo Ortiz from Granada, whom Lorca introduced me to. I came to Picasso on the Rue La Boetie so excited and respectful, as if he were at the reception of the pope himself.

The name and work of Dali attracted close attention in artistic circles. In the paintings of Dali of that time, one can notice the influence of cubism ( "Young Women" , 1923).
In 1928 Dali became famous all over the world. His painting

Other important event was the decision of Dali to officially join the movement of the Parisian surrealists. With the support of a friend, the artist Joan Miro, he joined their ranks in 1929. Andre Breton treated this dressed-up dandy - a Spaniard who painted pictures - puzzles, with a fair amount of distrust.
In 1929, his first solo exhibition was held in Paris at the Goeman's Gallery, after which he began his journey to the top of fame. In the same year, in January, he met his friend from the San Fernando Academy, Luis Bunuel, who offered to work together on a script for a film known as "Andalusian Dog"(Un Chien andalou). ("Andalusian puppies" Madrid youth called people from the south of Spain. This nickname meant "slobbery", "slob", "klutz", "sissy").
Now this film is a classic of surrealism. It was a short film designed to shock and hurt the bourgeoisie and ridicule the extremes of the avant-garde. Among the most shocking shots there is to this day the famous scene, which, as you know, was invented by Dali, where the human eye is cut in half with a blade. The decomposing donkeys seen in other scenes were also part of Dalí's contribution to the film.
After the film's first public screening in October 1929 at the Théâtre des Ursulines in Paris, Buñuel and Dalí immediately became famous and celebrated.

Two years after The Andalusian Dog, The Golden Age came out. Critics received the new film with enthusiasm. But then he became a bone of contention between Bunuel and Dali: each claimed that he did more for the film than the other. However, despite the controversy, their collaboration left a deep mark on the lives of both artists and sent Dali on the path of surrealism.
Despite a relatively short "official" connection with the surrealist movement and the Breton group, Dali initially and forever remains an artist who personifies surrealism.
But even among the surrealists, Salvador Dali turned out to be a real troublemaker of surrealist restlessness, he advocated surrealism without shores, declaring: "Surrealism is me!" and, dissatisfied with the principle of mental automatism proposed by Breton and based on a spontaneous, uncontrolled creative act, the Spanish master defines the method he invented as "paranoid-critical activity."
Dali's break with the surrealists was also facilitated by his delusional political statements. His admiration for Adolf Hitler and monarchist tendencies ran counter to Breton's ideas. Dali's final break with the Breton group takes place in 1939.

The father, dissatisfied with his son's connection with Gala Eluard, forbade Dali to appear in his house, and thereby laid the foundation for a conflict between them. According to his subsequent stories, the artist, tormented by remorse, cut off all his hair and buried it in his beloved Cadaqués.

"... A few days later I received a letter from my father, who informed me that I was finally expelled from the family ... My first reaction to the letter was to cut off my hair. But I did it differently: I shaved my head, then buried it in the ground his hair, sacrificing it along with empty shells sea ​​urchins eaten at dinner."

With virtually no money, Dali and Gala moved into a small house in a fishing village in Port Ligat, where they found shelter. There, in seclusion, they spent many hours together, and Dali worked hard to earn money, because although he was already recognized by that time, he still struggled to make ends meet. At that time, Dali began to become more and more involved in surrealism, his work was now significantly different even from those abstract paintings which he wrote in the early twenties. The main theme for many of his works is now the confrontation with his father.
The image of the deserted shore was firmly planted in Dali's mind at that time. The artist painted a deserted beach and rocks in Cadaqués without any specific thematic focus. As he later claimed, the void was filled for him when he saw a piece of camembert cheese. The cheese became soft and began to melt on the plate. This sight evoked a certain image in the artist's subconscious, and he began to fill the landscape with melting hours, thus creating one of the most powerful images of our time. Dali named the painting "The Persistence of Memory" .

"... Deciding to write a clock, I wrote them soft. It was one evening, I was tired, I had a migraine - an extremely rare ailment for me. We had to go to the cinema with friends, but at the last moment I decided to stay at home. Gala will go with them, and I'll go to bed early. We ate very tasty cheese, then I was left alone, sitting leaning on the table and thinking about how "super soft" melted cheese. I got up and went to the workshop to, as usual, , cast a glance at my work. The picture I was going to paint was a landscape of the outskirts of Port Lligat, rocks, as if illuminated by a dim evening light. In the foreground, I sketched a chopped off trunk of a leafless olive tree. This landscape is the basis for a canvas with some idea, but what? I needed a marvelous image, but I could not find it. I went to turn off the light, and when I went out, I literally "saw" the solution: two pairs of soft clocks, one hanging plaintively from an olive branch. Despite the migraine, I cooked palette and set to work. two hours, when Gala returned from the cinema, the picture, which was to become one of the most famous, was completed. "

"The Persistence of Memory" was completed in 1931 and has become a symbol of the modern concept of the relativity of time. A year after the exposition in the Parisian gallery of Pierre Colet, the most famous picture Dali was bought by the New York Museum of Modern Art.
Not being able to visit Father's house in Cadaqués because of his father's ban, Dali built new house on the beach, near Port Lligat.

Now Dali was convinced, more than ever, that his goal was to learn to paint like the great masters of the Renaissance, and that with the help of their technique he would be able to express the ideas that prompted him to paint. Thanks to meetings with Bunuel and numerous disputes with Lorca, who spent a lot of time with him in Cadaqués, new broad ways of thinking opened up for Dali.
By 1934, Gala had already divorced her husband, and Dali could marry her. The amazing feature of this married couple was that they felt and understood each other. Gala, in the literal sense, lived the life of Dali, and he, in turn, deified her, admired her.
The outbreak of the civil war prevented Dalí from returning to Spain in 1936. Dali's fear for the fate of his country and its people was reflected in his paintings, painted during the war. Among them is the tragic and terrifying "Premonition of Civil War" in 1936. Dali liked to emphasize that this painting was a test of the genius of his intuition, since it was completed 6 months before the start. civil war in Spain in July 1936.

Between 1936 and 1937, Salvador Dali painted one of the most famous paintings, The Metamorphosis of Narcissus. At the same time, his literary work entitled "Metamorphoses of Narcissus. A paranoid theme" is published. By the way, earlier (1935) in the work "The Conquest of the Irrational" Dali formulated the theory of the paranoid-critical method. In this method I used various forms irrational associations, especially images that change depending on visual perception - so that, for example, a group of fighting soldiers can suddenly turn into a woman's face. Distinctive feature Dali was that, no matter how bizarre his images were, they were always painted in an impeccable "academic" manner, with that photographic accuracy that most avant-garde artists considered old-fashioned.

Although Dali often expressed the idea that the events of world life, such as wars, had little to do with the world of art, he was greatly worried about the events in Spain. In 1938, as the war reached its climax, "Spain" was written. During the Spanish Civil War, Dalí and Gala visited Italy to view the work of the Renaissance artists Dalí most admired. They also visited Sicily. This journey inspired the artist to write African Impressions in 1938.

In 1940, Dali and Gala, just weeks before the Nazi invasion, left France on a transatlantic flight ordered and paid for by Picasso. They stayed in the States for eight years. It was there that Salvador Dali wrote, probably one of his best books - a biography - "The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, written by himself". When this book was published in 1942, it immediately attracted serious criticism from the press and supporters of the Puritan society.
During the years spent by Gala and Dali in America, Dali made a fortune. In doing so, some critics argue, he paid with his reputation as an artist. Among the artistic intelligentsia, his extravagances were considered as antics in order to draw attention to himself and his work. And Dali's traditional style of writing was considered unsuitable for the twentieth century (at that time, artists were busy looking for a new language to express new ideas born in modern society).

During his stay in America, Dali worked as a jeweler, designer, photojournalist, illustrator, portraitist, decorator, window dresser, made scenery for the Hitchcock film The House of Dr. psychoanalytic analysis of Salvador Dali's mustache). At the same time he writes the novel "Hidden Faces". His performance is amazing.
His texts, films, installations, photo essays and ballet performances are distinguished by irony and paradox, fused into a single whole in the same peculiar manner that is characteristic of his painting. Despite the monstrous eclecticism, the combination of the incompatible, the mixture (obviously deliberate) of soft and hard styles - his compositions are built according to the rules of academic art. The cacophony of plots (deformed objects, distorted images, fragments of the human body, etc.) is "pacified", harmonized by the jewelry technique, which reproduces the texture of museum painting.

A new vision of the world was born in Dali after the explosion over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Having experienced a deep impression of the discoveries that led to the creation of the atomic bomb, the artist painted a whole series of paintings dedicated to the atom (for example, "The splitting of the atom", 1947).
But nostalgia for their homeland takes its toll and in 1948 they return to Spain. While in Port Lligat, Dali turns to religious-fiction themes in his creations.
On the eve of the Cold War, Dali develops the theory of "atomic art" published in the same year in the "Mystical Manifesto". Dali sets himself the goal of conveying to the viewer the idea of ​​the constancy of spiritual being even after the disappearance of matter ( "Raphael's Exploding Head", 1951). The fragmented forms in this painting, as well as others painted during this period, are rooted in Dalí's interest in nuclear physics. The head looks like one of Raphael's Madonnas - classically clear and calm images; at the same time, it includes the dome of the Roman Pantheon with a stream of light falling inward. Both images are clearly distinguishable, despite the explosion that breaks the entire structure into small fragments in the shape of a rhinoceros horn.
These studies have culminated in "Galatea of ​​the Spheres", 1952, where Gala's head consists of rotating spheres.

The rhinoceros horn became a new symbol for Dali, most fully embodied by him in the painting "Rhinoceros Figure of Ilissus Phidias", 1954. The painting dates back to the time that Dali called as "an almost divine strict period of the rhinoceros horn", arguing that the bend of this horn is the only one in nature is an absolutely exact logarithmic spiral, and therefore the only perfect form.
In the same year, he also painted "A young virgin self-sodomed by her own chastity". The painting depicted a naked woman threatened by several rhinoceros horns.
Dali was fascinated by the new ideas of the theory of relativity. This prompted him to return to "The Persistence of Memory" 1931. Now in "The Disintegration of Memory Persistence",1952-54, Dali depicted his soft watch below sea level, where brick-like stones stretch into perspective. Memory itself was decomposing, since time no longer existed in the meaning given to it by Dali.

His international fame continued to grow, based both on his flamboyance and his sense of social taste, and on his incredible prolific output in painting, graphic work and book illustration, as well as a designer in jewelry, clothing, stage costumes, shop interiors. He continued to surprise the public with his extravagant appearances. For example, in Rome, he appeared in the "Metaphysical Cube" (a simple white box covered with scientific badges). Most of the spectators who came to see Dali's performances were simply attracted by the eccentric celebrity.
In 1959, Dalí and Gala truly made their home in Port Lligat. By that time, no one could doubt the genius of the great artist. His paintings were bought for a lot of money by admirers and lovers of luxury. The huge canvases painted by Dali in the 60s were estimated at huge sums. Many millionaires considered it chic to have paintings by Salvador Dali in their collection.

In 1965, Dali met a student of an art college, part-time model, nineteen-year-old Amanda Lear, a future pop star. A couple of weeks after their meeting in Paris, when Amanda was returning home to London, Dali solemnly announced: "Now we will always be together." And over the next eight years, they really almost never parted. In addition, Gala herself blessed their union. Muse Dali calmly gave her husband into the caring hands of a young girl, knowing full well that Dali would never leave her and to anyone. There was no intimate relationship in the traditional sense between him and Amanda. Dali could only look at her and enjoy. In Cadaques, Amanda spent several seasons in a row every summer. Dali, lounging in an armchair, enjoyed the beauty of his nymph. Dali was afraid of bodily contacts, considering them too rough and mundane, but visual erotica brought him real pleasure. He could endlessly watch Amanda wash herself, so when they stayed in hotels, they often booked rooms with communicating baths.

Everything was going great, but when Amanda decided to step out of Dali's shadow and pursue her own career, their love and friendship collapsed. Dali did not forgive her for the success that fell upon her. Geniuses do not like it when something that belongs to them undivided suddenly slips out of their hands. And someone else's success for them is an unbearable torment. How is it possible, his "baby" (despite the fact that Amanda's height is 176 cm) allowed herself to become independent and successful! They for a long time almost did not communicate, seeing each other only in 1978 at Christmas in Paris.

The next day, Gala called Amanda and asked her to urgently come to her. When Amanda appeared at her place, she saw that an open Bible was lying in front of Gala, and right next to it was an icon of the Kazan Mother of God, taken out of Russia. “Swear to me on the Bible,” 84-year-old Gala strictly ordered that when I am gone, you will marry Dali. I cannot die leaving him unattended. Amanda swore without hesitation. And a year later she married the Marquis Allen Philippe Malagnac. Dali refused to accept the newlyweds, and Gala no longer spoke to her until her death.

Beginning around 1970, Dali's health began to deteriorate. Although his creative energy did not decrease, thoughts of death and immortality began to disturb him. He believed in the possibility of immortality, including the immortality of the body, and explored ways to preserve the body through freezing and DNA transplantation in order to be born again.

More important, however, was the preservation of the works, which became his main project. He put all his energy into it. The artist came up with the idea to build a museum for his works. He soon set about rebuilding the theater in Figueres, his homeland, badly damaged during the Spanish Civil War. A gigantic geodesic dome was erected over the stage. Auditorium was cleared and divided into sectors in which his works of different genres could be presented, including Mae West's bedroom and large paintings, such as "The Hallucinogenic Toreador". Dali himself painted the entrance foyer, depicting himself and Gala washing gold in Figueres, with their feet hanging from the ceiling. The salon was called the Palace of the Winds, after poem of the same name, which tells the legend of the east wind, whose love married and lives in the west, so whenever he approaches her, he is forced to turn, while his tears fall to the ground. This legend was very much liked by Dali, the great mystic, who devoted another part of his museum to eroticism. As he often liked to point out, erotica differs from pornography in that the former brings everyone happiness, while the latter only brings bad luck.
Many other works and other trinkets were exhibited at the Dalí Theatre-Museum. The salon opened in September 1974 and looked less like a museum than a bazaar. There, among other things, were the results of Dali's experiments with holography, from which he hoped to create global three-dimensional images. (His holograms were first exhibited at the Knedler Gallery in New York in 1972. He stopped experimenting in 1975.) In addition, the Dali Theatre-Museum exhibits double spectroscopic paintings depicting a naked Gala against a painting by Claude Laurent and other works of art, created by Dali. More about the Theater-Museum.

In 1968-1970, the painting "The Hallucinogenic Toreador" was created - a masterpiece of metamorphism. The artist himself called this huge canvas "the whole Dali in one picture", since it is a whole anthology of his images. Upstairs, the spiritual head of Gala dominates the entire stage, and in the lower right corner stands six-year-old Dali, dressed as a sailor (as he portrayed himself in The Phantom of Sexual Attraction in 1932). In addition to many images from earlier works, there is a series of Venus de Milo in the picture, gradually turning and simultaneously changing gender. The bullfighter himself is not easy to see - until we realize that the naked torso of Venus second from the right can be perceived as part of his face (the right chest corresponds to the nose, the shadow on the stomach - the mouth), and the green shadow on her drapery - like a tie. To the left, a sequined bullfighter's jacket glimmers, merging with the rocks, which reveal the head of a dying bull.

Dali's popularity grew. The demand for his work has become crazy. Book publishers, magazines, fashion houses and theater directors fought for it. He has already created illustrations for many masterpieces of world literature, such as the Bible, " The Divine Comedy"Dante, Milton's Paradise Lost, Freud's God and Monotheism, Ovid's The Art of Love. He has published books dedicated to himself and his art, in which he unrestrainedly praises his talent ("The Diary of a Genius", "Dali by Dali" , "The Golden Book of Dali", "The Secret Life of Salvador Dali"). He was always distinguished by a bizarre demeanor, constantly changing extravagant costumes and the style of his mustache.

The cult of Dali, the abundance of his works in different genres and styles led to the emergence of numerous fakes, which caused great problems in the global art market. Dalí himself was involved in a scandal in 1960 when he signed many clean sheets paper intended for making impressions from lithographic stones held by dealers in Paris. An allegation was made for the illegal use of these blank sheets. However, Dali remained imperturbable and in the 1970s continued to lead his hectic and active life, as always continuing to search for new plastic ways to explore his amazing world of art.

In the late 60s, the relationship between Dali and Gala began to fade. And at the request of Gala, Dali was forced to buy her his castle, where she spent a lot of time in the company of young people. The rest of their life together was smoldering firebrands that were once a bright fire of passion ... Galya was already about 70 years old, but the more she grew old, the more she wanted love. "El Salvador doesn't care, each of us has our own life", - she convinced her husband's friends, dragging them into bed. "I allow Gala to have as many lovers as she wants Dali said. - I even encourage her because it turns me on". Young lovers Gala mercilessly robbed her. She gave them paintings by Dali, bought houses, studios, cars. And Dali was saved from loneliness by his favorites, young beautiful women, from whom he did not need anything but their beauty. In public, he always pretended that they were lovers. But he knew that it was all just a game. The woman of his soul was only Gala.

All her life with Dali, Gala played the role of a gray cardinal, preferring to remain in the background. Some considered her driving force Dali, others - a witch, weaving intrigues ... Gala managed her husband's constantly growing wealth with efficient efficiency. It was she who closely followed private transactions for the purchase of his paintings. She was needed physically and morally, so when Gala died in June 1982, the artist suffered a heavy loss. Among the works created by Dali a few weeks before her death is "Three famous mysteries of Gala", 1982.

Dali did not participate in the funeral. According to eyewitnesses, he entered the crypt only a few hours later. "Look I'm not crying"- everything he said. After the death of Gala, Dali's life became gray, all his madness and surrealistic fun were gone forever. What Dali lost with the departure of Gala was known only to him. Alone, he wandered through the rooms of their house, muttering incoherent phrases about happiness and about how beautiful Gala was. He did not draw anything, but only sat for hours in the dining room, where all the shutters were closed.

After her death, his health began to deteriorate rapidly. Doctors suspected Dalí had Parkinson's disease. This disease once became fatal for his father. Dali almost stopped appearing in society. Despite this, his popularity grew. Among the awards that rained down on Dali like a cornucopia was membership in the Academy of Fine Arts of France. Spain bestowed upon him the highest honor, awarding him the Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic, presented to him by King Juan Carlos. Dali was declared Marquis de Pubol in 1982. Despite all this, Dali was unhappy and felt bad. He threw himself into work. All his life he admired by Italian artists Renaissance, so he began to paint paintings inspired by the heads of Giuliano de Medici, Moses and Adam (located in the Sistine Chapel) by Michelangelo and his "Descent from the Cross" in St. Peter's Church in Rome.

The last years of his life, the artist spent all alone in the castle of Gala in Pubol, where Dali moved after her death, and later in his room at the Dali Theater-Museum.
His last work - "Dovetail", Dali finished in 1983. This is a simple calligraphic composition on a white sheet, inspired by the catastrophe theory.

By the end of 1983, his spirits seemed to have lifted somewhat. He sometimes began to walk in the garden, began to paint pictures. But, alas, it did not last long. Old age took precedence over a brilliant mind. On August 30, 1984, a fire broke out in Dali's house. Burns on the artist's body covered 18% of the skin. After that, his health deteriorated further.

By February 1985, Dali's health improved somewhat and he was able to give an interview to the largest Spanish newspaper Pais. But in November 1988, Dali was admitted to the clinic with a diagnosis of heart failure. Salvador Dali died on January 23, 1989 at the age of 84.

He bequeathed to bury himself not next to his surreal Madonna, in the tomb of Pubol, and in the city where he was born, in Figueres. The embalmed body of Salvador Dali, dressed in a white tunic, was buried at the Figueres Theater Museum, under a geodesic dome. Thousands of people came to say goodbye to the great genius. Salvador Dali was buried in the center of his museum. He left his fortune and his works to Spain.

Message about the death of the artist in the Soviet press:
"Salvador Dali, the world-famous Spanish artist, has died. He died today in a hospital in the Spanish city of Figueres at the age of 85 after a long illness. Dali was the largest representative of surrealism - the avant-garde trend in the artistic culture of the twentieth century, which was especially popular in the West in the 30s years. Salvador Dali was a member of the Spanish and French academies of arts. He is the author of many books, film scripts. Exhibitions of Dali's works were held in many countries of the world, including recently in the Soviet Union."

"For fifty years now I have entertained mankind", - Salvador Dali once wrote in his biography. It entertains to this day and will continue to entertain if humanity does not disappear and painting does not perish under technical progress.