How to Appreciate Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali is one of the most famous painters known today. By understanding Dali's motivations behind his work, you can better appreciate his art.

Instructions

Dali's Art Before 1935

1. Look for elements of impressionism. When Dali was young, he was an impressionist painter, like Monet. He painted mostly landscapes. His portraits resembled people's characteristics, but they did not have the photographic, realistic qualities he developed later.

2. Look for his shift to surrealism. When Dali's mother died in 1922, he had an identity crisis. He began to think that the truth about life was hidden. He attended lectures on dream interpretation and read articles by Sigmund Freud. He began to seek truth in the dreamlike, unconscious state. This is when he moves into dreamlike painting, called surrealism.

3. Look for evidence of Dali's use of sexuality and Hitler. While Dali was very popular in the surrealist movement, just before 1935 he began to experiment with extreme images of sexuality and symbols of Hitler. At the time, these images were too controversial for the art world. The surrealist movement asked him to leave in 1935.

Dali's Art from 1935 to 1945

1. Look for references to materialism and consumption. Dali had a fascination with consumerism, and this is another reason why the surrealist movement, which was strongly socialist, no longer wanted Dali as a member.

2. Look for eroticism. Dali made more and more of an effort to move toward the use of human figures as things that are desired. He painted his figures in alluring, attractive ways. As Dali began his cinematography career, eroticism became a more common theme.

3. Look for a shift from round, cartoonish figures to more realistic looking people in Dali's art. At the end of this period of his career, Dali decided he wanted to learn to paint people in a classical way. He took time off to study how classical masters used proportions, tones and luminescence in their portraits.

Dali's Art from 1946 to 1989

1. Look for religion to appear in Dali's art during this period. Dali was greatly affected by the dropping of the atom bombs in World War II. He reflected his concerns in his art. During this time, his compositions still have dream-like qualities, but the people are often religious figures that are more classical-looking.

2. Look for symbols of atoms in Dali's work. Once the atomic bomb was dropped, Dali's art included atoms and molecules. These were important to his surrealist nature because he considered them fundamental parts of the unconscious.

3. Look for references to time. Again, inspired by the science behind the atomic bomb, Dali began to wonder about time as a fourth dimension. This theme began appearing in his work.