![]() On a symbolism level, the lobster, with its exoskeletal hard exterior and vulnerable interior represented the human condition. This scene germinated the commissioning by the patron for Dalí to create a functioning telephone with a lobster handpiece. Upon eating the flesh, the shells were then thrown onto the floor, although one errantly landed on the nearby telephone. The idea for his combining lobsters with telephones came about when the artist was dining in the home of a British surrealist patron. The lobster has an important place in Dalí’s art-and in his psyche. What is clear is just how much Salvador Dalí relied on his unfettered, yet highly cluttered mind in all aspects of his life-and certainly all aspects of his artistic life.Ĭonquest of Cosmos II: Saturnian Giraffe, 1974Ĭolor lithograph with engraving and embossing on Arches wove paper Salvador Dalí Lobster Telephones Aside from Spain, the entire European continent was rapidly moving toward the Second World War, which began in 1939. The 1937 bombing by Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe of the civilians in the Spanish town of Guernica at the invitation of the leader of the Spanish rebel army, General Francisco Franco, and made (in)famous by the 1937 Pablo Picasso signature painting, Guernica, fed into Dalí’s deep anxiety of warfare. Spaniard Dalí was experiencing the Spanish Civil War, which began in 1936 and ended three years later. They first appeared in 1937, and represented destruction through warfare. Of course, elephants live for long periods of time, and therefore, to Dalí, they also represent immortality.īronze with green and black patina, brass and plexiglass Salvador Dalí Burning Giraffesīurning giraffes were another common theme for Dalí. They almost always are carrying objects (often obelisks-meaning power and domination) and have very gangly, thin legs, depicting weightlessness. They are extremely strong and smart, characteristics that were very attractive. Pâte de verre and gilded bronze Salvador Dalí ElephantsĮlephants depict strength and the future. ![]() Time is as fluid as the cheese and it morphs and transforms and slides away. The melting timepieces derived from the artist watching a piece of warming Camembert. Within Dalí’s world, clocks represent omnipresent time, and the inevitability of the effects and ravages of time. His perceptions of reality were thus pre-eminent and he was the paragon of enlightenment. The further he delved into his subconscious, the more he felt he was portraying truth, as he created his own world, with his symbols forming the foundations ready for artistic construction. To him, the constraints of outside influence, through logic and education served to thwart the mind’s natural operations. Attempting to make dreams logical is an exercise in futility.ĭalí was obsessed with the paramount importance of letting go of the real world in favor of the perceived higher truth that his mind would conjure if left to its own. ![]() The essence of dreams is symbols, as anyone who can remember their dreams will attest. If someone is asked to quickly remember one of Salvador Dalí’s most famous paintings, chances are they will immediately remember one with Salvador Dalí clocks, or one of Salvador Dalí’s elephant paintings. This is no accident, as his art is steeped in symbolism, which is to be expected considering that surrealism is based on the subconscious, which is necessarily dominated by symbolism.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |