Where was El Salvador born given the city. Salvador Dali - biography of personal life

On May 11, 1904 at 8:45 a.m. in Spain, in Catalonia (northeast Spain), Figueres, little Dali was born. Full name: Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali y Domenech. His parents are Don Salvador Dali y Cusi and Dona Felipa Domenech. Salvador means "Savior" in Spanish. They named Salvador after his deceased brother. He died of meningitis a year before Dali was born in 1903. Dali also had a younger sister, Anna-Maria, who in the future would be the image of many of his paintings. Raised by parents little Dali differently. Since since childhood he had been distinguished by his impulsive and eccentric character, his father was literally infuriated by his antics. Mom, on the contrary, allowed him absolutely everything.

I'm pi He got into bed almost until he was eight years old - just for his own pleasure. In the house I reigned and commanded. Nothing was impossible for me. Didn't my father and mother pray for me ( Secret life Salvador Dali, told by himself)

Dali's desire for creativity manifested itself with early childhood. At the age of 4, he began to draw with a zeal unprecedented for a child. At the age of six, Dali was attracted to the image of Napoleon and, identifying himself with him, he felt the need for power. Having put on the king's fancy dress, he took great pleasure in his appearance. Well, he painted his first picture when he was 10 years old. It was a small landscape in the impressionist style, painted oil paints on a wooden plank. Then Salvador began taking drawing lessons from Professor Joao Nunez. Thus, at the age of 14 one could confidently see the talent of Salvador Dali incarnate.

When he was almost 15 years old, Dali was expelled from the monastic school for bad behavior. But this was not a failure for him; he passed his exams with flying colors and entered college. In Spain, schools of secondary education were called institutes. And in 1921 he graduated from the institute with excellent grades.
Afterwards he entered the Madrid Art Academy. When Dali was 16 years old, he began to get involved along with painting and literature, and began to write. He publishes his essays in the self-made publication “Studio”. And in general it leads enough active life. Managed to serve a day in prison for participating in student unrest.

Salvador Dali dreamed of creating his own style in painting. In the early 20s 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 Dalí" was published, and in 1927, Dalí designed the sets and costumes for the production of Lorca's "Mariana Pineda".
In 1921, Dali's mother dies. The father later marries another woman. For Dali, this looks like a betrayal. Later in his works he portrays 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 works of Pablo Picasso. At the same time, problems began at the academy. He was suspended for a year for disciplinary violations.

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

In 1926, Dali completely stopped making efforts to study, because... disappointed in school. And they kicked him out after the incident. He did not agree with the teachers’ decision regarding one of the painting teachers, then stood up and left the hall. A brawl immediately broke out in the hall. Of course, Dali was considered guilty, although he didn’t even know about what happened, and he ends up in prison, although not for long. But he soon returned to the academy. Ultimately, his behavior led to his expulsion from the academy for his refusal to take an oral examination. As soon as he learns that his last question is a question about Raphael, Dali declared: “... I do not know less than three professors combined, and I refuse to answer them because I am better informed on this matter.”

In 1927, Dali traveled to Italy to become familiar with Renaissance painting. While he was not yet part of the surrealist group led by Andre Breton and Max Ernst, he later joined them in 1929. Breton deeply studied the works of Freud. He said that by discovering unexpressed thoughts and desires hidden in the subconscious, surrealism could create new image life and the way of perceiving it.

In 1928, he left for Paris to find himself.

At the beginning of 1929, Dali tried himself as a director. The first film based on his script by Luis Bonuel was released. The film was called "Un Chien Andalou". Surprisingly, the film script was written in 6 days! The premiere was a sensation, as the film itself was very extravagant. Considered a classic of surrealism. Consisted of a set of frames and scenes. It was a small short film, designed to touch the heart of the bourgeoisie and ridicule the principles of the avant-garde.

IN personal life Dali did not have anything bright and significant until 1929. Of course, he walked around, had numerous relationships 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, she 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: they reveal the architectonic contours of a perfect soul, crystallizing in the grace of the body itself, in the aroma of the skin, in the sparkling sea foam of her life. Expressing an exquisite breath of feelings, plasticity and expressiveness materialize in impeccable architecture made of flesh and blood . (The Secret Life of Salvador Dali)

They met when Dali returned to Cadaques 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 - Dali wrote 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 a human body, fried eggs, cannibalism - all these images recall the frenetic 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 arranged them and connected them in a completely unimaginable way. Could connect the torso of a woman with a rhinoceros, for example, or a melted watch. Dali himself would call this the “paranoid-critical method.”

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

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

In 1932, the second film based on Dali's script, The Golden Age, premiered in London.

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

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 dissatisfied with his son’s relationship with Gala and forbade Dali to appear in the house.

After the occupation in 1940, Dalí moved from France to the USA to California. There he opens his workshop. She writes her own there too famous book"The Secret Life of Salvador Dali." After his marriage to Gala, Dali left the surrealist group because... His and the group's views begin to diverge. “I don’t care at all about the gossip that Andre Breton may spread about me, he simply doesn’t want to forgive me for the fact that I remain the last and only surrealist, but it is still necessary that one fine day the whole world will 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 and fantastic themes.

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

In 1956, Dali began a period when the inspiration for his second work was the idea of ​​the Angel. For him, God is an elusive concept that cannot be specified in any way. God for him is not a cosmic concept either, because this would impose certain restrictions on him. Dali sees God as a collection of contradictory thoughts that cannot be reduced to any structured idea. But Dali really believed in the existence of angels. He spoke about this this way: “Whatever dreams fall to my lot, they are capable of giving me pleasure only if they have complete reliability. Therefore, if I already experience such pleasure when angelic images approach, 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 extremely popular, sold for a lot of money, and he himself was famous. He often communicates with William Tell. Under the influence, 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 began to crack. Gala asked to buy another house in order to move out. After this, their relationship was already just 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” opened in Figueras, incredible in its content. Until now, he amazes viewers with his surreal appearance.
In 1980, Dali began to have health problems. The death of Franco, head of state of Spain, shocked and frightened Dalí. Doctors suspect he has Parkinson's disease. Dali's father died from this disease.

In 1982, Gala died on June 10. 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 Gala’s departure 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 drawing and sat for hours in the dining room, where all the shutters were closed.
The last work, “Swallowtail,” was completed in 1983.

In 1983, Dali’s health seemed to improve, and he began to go out for walks. But these changes were short-lived.

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

At his request, the body was embalmed and was 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; throughout his life he was distinguished by his extraordinary and extravagant behavior. He changed unusual costumes, the style of his mustache, and constantly praised his talent in the books he wrote (“The Diary of a Genius,” “Dali by Dali,” “ golden book Dali", "The Secret Life of Salvador Dali"). There was such a case when he gave lectures at the London Group Rooms in 1936. It was held as part of International exhibition surrealists. Dali appeared in the costume of a deep sea diver.

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

Birth and family

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

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

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

Childhood and school years

Father and mother gave their 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 very smart child, but for unknown reasons he himself argued the opposite. He was uncontrollable and arrogant. One day, while with his mother in a shopping area, Salvador threw a tantrum over a piece of candy. The candy shop was closed for siesta, but the boy was screaming so loudly that passing police officers begged the owner-trader to open the shop and sell the ill-fated candy to the child. Salvador achieved his goal by any means: he was capricious, feigned, and attracted the attention of strangers.

Because of this character, Dali was unable to make friends with the kids at school. In addition, conduct the usual school life He was hampered by all sorts of phobias and complexes. Even from his school days, he began to exhibit some kind of split personality. He played gambling with the guys, but when he lost, he behaved like a winner. He was never able to find common ground with his classmates and develop sympathy or friendship with at least one of them. A strange, eccentric child evoked a corresponding reaction from the children. When the children learned that Dali was terribly afraid of grasshoppers, they began to catch these insects and throw them down his collar. He started having wild hysterics, which amused the children. One only child, with whom El Salvador developed at least some similar human relations, was the future Barcelona footballer Josep Samitier.

Painting training

His talent for drawing emerged from early years, in school textbooks and notebooks in the margins, he often drew caricatures to make his little sister laugh. Family friend Ramon Pichot was an impressionist artist, 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 future artist spent his holidays. He liked to communicate with the lower strata of society, he talked for a long time with local workers and fishermen, and eagerly studied the superstitions and mythology of his people. Perhaps even then in his creative talent mystical themes were intertwined.

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

In 1922, Salvador Dali prepared for entrance exams a drawing that 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, asked him to redraw it in an amicable way. There was three days left, 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 it was even smaller than the previous one; for the parent, such a challenge was with a strong blow. But the commission considered the high skill in Dali’s work and accepted him into the Academy.

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

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

But in 1926, despite his talent, Salvador was expelled from the Academy for his disgusting arrogance and disdain to teachers. That same year he left for Paris.

Creative path

In the 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 wrote in the style of surrealism. His paintings intertwined myths with reality, and his deep study of psychology according to Freud left a significant imprint on his work.

In 1937, the artist visited Italy, he was delighted with the works of the Renaissance, after which he own paintings oh, even correct human proportions appeared, but still with surreal fantasies.

At the beginning of World War II, Salvador left for the United States, where he lived until 1948. In America, he also discovered his talent for writing; in 1942, his autobiography “The Secret Life of Salvador Dali” was published. Acquaintance with Walt Disney also brought Dali experience of working in cinema. Director Alfred Hitchcock shot the film Spellbound, and Salvador wrote the scenery for it.

Returning to Spain, the artist worked a lot and, as before, conquered the whole world with his works, exhibitions and shocking antics.

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

• "Gala in the Window";
• "Seated Don Quixote";
• "Space Elephant";
• "The horse and rider are stumbling."

An incredible love story

Famous muse and Elena Dyakonova, known throughout the world under the name Gala, became the wife of Salvador Dali.

They met in the summer of 1929, at that time Elena was married to 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 older than Dali for 10 years. At the time of their acquaintance, he was a young aspiring artist who came from a provincial town, and Gala was experienced and sophisticated, self-confident and sophisticated, moving in the highest circles of society. He was struck by her beauty.

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

Gala and Dali became close, but this did not stop the woman from continuing her relationship with her husband and also having lovers along the way; at that time in bohemian circles this was considered normal.

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

It was Gala who made the artist famous throughout the world; she used all her connections, organized exhibitions, and brought his works to connoisseurs. And he created with such zeal that one painting had not yet been completed, and another was already asking to be put on canvas. Dali painted his muse, which inspired him so much, constantly. Now his paintings were signed double name Gala - Salvador Dali.

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

When Dali began to lose interest in paintings, Gala gave him new idea creating designer furniture. Rich people 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 fancy watches with a strange dial. Salvador Dali is also the author of the packaging design for Chupa Chups caramel.

Their relationship seemed strange to the ordinary world, but for the two of them it was normal. The 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 Gala remained the only woman to whom he completely obeyed. If not for her, the world might never have known the great genius of Salvador Dali. First, she inspired self-confidence in the young, insecure artist, then she fully revealed the full scope of his talent: she made Dali an idol of the planet, while constantly protecting and defending him. And he bowed to her.

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

The last years of life and death of a genius

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

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

Over time, he stopped writing, speaking, and then moving. The old man was distraught, it was almost impossible to care for him, he bit the nurses, threw whatever came to hand at them, and screamed.

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

Well, here's a biography of Salvador Dali. Salvador is one of my favorite artists. I tried to add more dirty details delicious interesting facts and quotes from friends from the master’s circle that are not on other sites. Available short biography artist's creativity - see navigation below. A lot is taken from Gabriella Poleta’s film “The Biography of Salvador Dali”, so be careful, spoilers!

When inspiration leaves me, I put my brush and paints aside and sit down to write something about the people who inspire me. Such things.

Salvador Dali, biography. Table of contents.

Characters

The Dalís would spend the next eight years in the United States. Immediately upon their arrival in America, Salvador and Gala launched a grandiose orgy of a PR event. They threw a costume party in a surreal style (Gala sat in a unicorn costume, hmm) and invited the most prominent people from the bohemian party of their time. Dali quite successfully began to exhibit in America, and his shocking antics were very much loved by the American press and the bohemian crowd. What, what, they have never seen such masterly and artistic silliness.

In 1942, the surrealist published his autobiography, “The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, Written by Himself.” The book will be slightly shocking for unprepared minds, I say right away. Although it's worth reading, it's interesting. Despite the obvious strangeness of the author, it is quite easy and relaxed to read. IMHO, Dali, as a writer, is quite good, in his own way, of course.

However, despite the huge critical success, Gala again had difficulty finding buyers for her paintings. But everything changed when, in 1943, a wealthy couple from Colorado visited the Dali exhibition - Reynold and Eleanor Mos became regular buyers of Salvador’s paintings and family friends. The Mos couple acquired a quarter of all Salvador Dali's paintings and later founded the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, but not in the one you thought, but in America, in Florida.

We started collecting his works, often met with Dali and Gala, and he liked us because we liked his paintings. Gala also fell in love with us, but she needed to maintain her reputation as a person with a difficult character; she was torn between her sympathy for us and her reputation. (c) Eleanor Mos

Dali works closely as a designer, participating in the creation of jewelry and scenery. In 1945, Hitchcock invited the master to create the scenery for his film Spellbound. Even Walt Disney was captivated magical world Dali. In 1946, he commissioned a cartoon that would introduce Americans to surrealism. True, the sketches turned out to be so surreal that the cartoon will never appear in theaters, but later it will still be finished. It's called Destino, a schizophasic cartoon, very beautiful, with high-quality art and worth watching, unlike The Andalusian Dog (don't watch the dog, honestly).

Salvador Dali's spat with the surrealists.

While the entire artistic and intellectual community hated Franco, he was a dictator who had taken over the republic by force. Dali, however, decided to go against popular opinion. (c) Antonio Pichot.

Dali was a monarchist, he talked with Franco and he told him that she was going to restore the monarchy. So Dali was for Franco. (c) Lady Moyne

The painting of El Salvador at this time acquired a particularly academic character. The master's paintings of this period are especially characterized by a classical component, despite the obvious surreal nature of the plot. The maestro also paints landscapes and classic paintings without any surrealism. Many of the paintings also take on a distinctly religious character. Famous paintings by Salvador Dali of this time are Atomic Ice, The Last Supper, Christ of Saint Juan de la Cruz, etc.

The prodigal son returned to the fold catholic church and in 1958 Dali and Gala got married. Dali was 54 years old, Gala 65. But, despite the wedding, their romance changed. The Gala turned Salvador Dali into world celebrity, but although their partnership was much more than business, Gala loved young stallions so that they could stand for an hour without a break, and Salvadorich was no longer the same. He no longer looked like the sexless, extravagant ephebe she had known before. Therefore, their relationship by that time had noticeably cooled, and Gala was increasingly seen surrounded by young gigolos and without Salvador.

Many people thought that Dali was just a showman, but this is not so. He worked 18 hours a day, admiring the local landscapes. I think he was basically a simple person. (c) Lady Moyne.

Amanda Lear, Salvador Dali's second great love.

Salvador, who had been partying all his life with burning eyes, turned into a shaking, unhappy animal with a hunted look. Time spares no one.

Death of Gala, wife of a surrealist.

Soon the maestro was waiting new blow. In 1982, at the age of 88, Gala died of a heart attack. Despite the rather cool temperatures lately relationship, Salvador Dali, with the death of Gala, lost his core, the basis of his existence and became like an apple whose core had rotted.

For Dali it was with a strong blow. It was as if his world was falling apart. It's arrived scary time. A time of deepest depression. (c) Antonio Pichot.

After Gala's death, Dali went downhill. He left for Pubol. (c) Lady Moyne.

The famous surrealist moved to the castle bought for his wife, where traces of her former presence allowed him to somehow brighten up his existence.

I think it was a big mistake to retire to this castle, where he was surrounded by people who did not know him at all, but in this way Dali mourned Gala (c) Lady Moyne.

Once a well-known party animal, Salvador, whose house was always full of people drunk on pink champagne, turned into a recluse who only allowed close friends to visit him.

He said, okay, let's meet, but in complete darkness. I don't want you to see how gray and old I have become. I want her to remember me as young and beautiful (c) Amanda.

I was asked to visit him. He put a bottle of red wine and a glass on the table, placed an armchair, and remained in the bedroom with the door closed. (c) Lady Moyne.

Fire and death of Salvador Dali

Fate, which had previously spoiled Dali with luck, decided, as if in revenge for all the previous years, to throw Salvador a new misfortune. In 1984, there was a fire in the castle. None of the nurses on duty around the clock responded to Dali’s cries for help. When Dali was rescued, his body was 25 percent burned. Unfortunately, fate did not give the artist an easy death and he recovered, although he was exhausted and covered with scars from burns. Salvador's friends persuaded him to leave his castle and move to a museum in Figueres. Recent years Before his death, Salvador Dali spent time surrounded by his art.

5 years later, Salvador Dali died in a hospital in Barcelona from cardiac arrest. Such things.

Such an end seems too sad for a man who was so full of life and so different from others. He was incredible person. (c) Lady Moyne

Tell this to Vrubel and Van Gogh.

Salvador Dali enriched our lives not only with his paintings. I'm glad he allowed us to get to know him so intimately. (c) Eleanor Mos

I felt that a huge, very significant part of my life had ended, as if I had lost my own father. (c) Amanda.

For many, the meeting with Dali was a real discovery of a new huge world, an unusual philosophy. Compared to him, all these contemporary artists Those who try to copy his style look simply pathetic. (c) Ultraviolet.

Before his death, Salvador Dali bequeathed to be buried in his museum, surrounded by his works, under the feet of his admiring fans.

There are probably people who don't even know that he died, they think he just doesn't work anymore. In a sense, it doesn't matter whether Dali is alive or dead. For pop culture, he is always alive. (c) Alice Cooper.

Salvador Dali was born on May 11, 1904 in the Spanish city of Figueres (Catalonia). His real name is Salvador Jacinto Dali Domench Cusi Farres. His father called him Salvador, which means "Savior" in Spanish.

The first son who appeared in the family died, and the parents wanted the second to become their consolation, the savior of the ancient family. As Dali wrote in his shocking “Diary of a Genius”: “At the age of six I wanted to become a cook, at seven - Napoleon. Since then, my ambitions have been growing steadily. And today I long to become none other than Salvador Dali.” Most of all, Dali loved himself; they say about such people - Narcissus. He talked a lot about himself, published personal diaries. He was confident in his exclusivity.

The only thing that separates me from a crazy person is that I am normal.

Dali Salvador

Dali claimed that he was a genius already in his mother's womb. He adored his mother, because she carried the Savior, that is, him, and when his mother died, he could not recover from the blow. But not much time passed, and for advertising purposes Dali inscribed on one of his own paintings hanging at an exhibition in Paris the blasphemous words: “I spit on my mother.” Salvador's father forbade his son to return home, but Dali didn't care: painting became his family and home.

Whether Dali is a genius or not, we will not judge; he was always assessed differently, but his talent was always evident. The excellent landscape that he painted at the age of 6 has been preserved, and at the age of 14 his personal exhibition No. 1 took place in municipal theater Figueres. At the age of 17, he entered the Royal Academy of Arts (another name is the Higher School of Fine Arts).

The teachers rated his drawings quite highly. The poet Rafael Alberti recalled: “I feel great love for Salvador Dali, the young man. His talent from God was supported by his amazing ability to work. Very often, locked in his room and working frantically, he forgot to go down to the dining room. Despite his rare talent, Salvador Dali I visited the Academy of Arts every day and learned to draw there until I was exhausted." But in my head young talent The thought has always been: how to become famous? How to stand out from a huge pool of talent? What is an unusual way to enter the art world and be remembered? Vanity is a powerful lever for a gifted person. It leads some to heroic deeds, and forces others to show best sides character and soul, Dali decided to take a completely different path: he decided to shock!

In 1926, Dali was expelled from the Academy for insolence, then he was briefly imprisoned. Well, these scandals only benefit him! Having started his own path in painting, Dali began to struggle with common sense. In addition to the fact that he wrote his terrible fantasies non-stop, he behaved in a very original way. Here, for example, are some of his antics. Once in Rome, he appeared in the park of Princess Pallavicini, illuminated by torches, made of a cubic egg and made a speech in Latin.

In Madrid, Dali once gave a speech addressed to Picasso. Its goal is to invite Picasso to Spain. "Picasso is a Spaniard - and I am also a Spaniard! Picasso is a genius - and I am also a genius! Picasso is a communist - and neither am I!" The audience groaned. Dali appeared in New York dressed in a gold space suit and inside an outlandish machine of his own invention - a transparent sphere. In Nice, Dali announced his intention to begin creating the film "The Car in the Flesh" with the brilliant actress Anna Magnani in leading role. Moreover, he claimed that in the plot the heroine falls in love with a car.

Salvador Dali was a genius of self-promotion, so his following tirade is completely clear: “Our time is the era of cretins, the era of consumption, and I would be the last idiot if I did not shake everything possible out of the cretins of this era.” ...Dali, who adored everything unconventional, everything “on the contrary,” was married to amazing woman, which was quite a match for him. Her real name is Elena Dmitrievna Dyakonova, although she went down in history under the name Gala. Gala means "celebration" in French. In fact, it was so: for Dali, the Gala became a holiday of inspiration, main model. They did not part for 53 years.

The marriage of Dali and Gala was rather strange; rather, it was a creative union. Dali could not live without his “half”: in everyday life he was rather impractical, a complex person, was afraid of everything: riding in an elevator, and concluding contracts. Gala said: “In the morning, El Salvador makes mistakes, and in the afternoon I correct them, tearing up the agreements he frivolously signed.” They were an eternal pair - ice and fire.

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Salvador Dali (full name Salvador Domenech Felip Jacinte Dalí and Domenech, Marquis de Dalí de Pubol, cat. Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marqués de Dalí de Púbol, Spanish. Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marqués de Dalí y de Púbol; May 11, 1904, Figueres - January 23, 1989, Figueres) - spanish painter, graphic artist, sculptor, director, writer. One of the most famous representatives surrealism.

Worked on the films: “Un Chien Andalou,” “The Golden Age” (directed by Luis Buñuel), “Spellbound” (directed by Alfred Hitchcock). Author of the books “The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, Told by Himself” (1942), “The Diary of a Genius” (1952-1963), Oui: The Paranoid-Critical Revolution(1927-33) and the essay “The Tragic Myth of Angelus Millet.”

Childhood

Salvador Dali was born in Spain on May 11, 1904 in the city of Figueres, province of Girona, into the family of a wealthy notary. He was a Catalan by nationality, perceived himself as such and insisted on this peculiarity of his. He had a sister, Anna Maria Dali (Spanish. Anna Maria Dalí, 6 January 1908 – 16 May 1989), and an older brother (12 October 1901 – 1 August 1903), who died of meningitis. Later, at the age of 5, Salvador was told by his parents at his grave that he was the reincarnation of his older brother.

As a child, Dali was a smart, but arrogant and uncontrollable child. One day he started a scandal in a shopping area for the sake of candy, a crowd gathered around, and the police asked the owner of the shop to open it during siesta and give the boy some sweets. He achieved his goal through whims and simulation, always striving to stand out and attract attention.

Numerous complexes and phobias, for example, fear of grasshoppers, prevented him from joining ordinary school life and forming ordinary bonds of friendship and sympathy with children. But, like any person, experiencing sensory hunger, he was looking for emotional contact with children by any means, trying to get used to their team, if not in the role of a comrade, then in any other role, or rather the only one that he was capable of - in the role of a shocking and disobedient child, strange, eccentric, always acting contrary to other people's opinions. Losing at school gambling, he acted as if he had won and was triumphant. Sometimes he would start fights for no reason.

Classmates treated the “strange” child rather intolerantly, took advantage of his fear of grasshoppers, slipped these insects down his collar, which drove Salvador to hysterics, which he later told about in his book “The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, Told by Himself.”

Dali began studying fine arts at the municipal art school. From 1914 to 1918 he was educated at the Academy of the Brothers of the Marist Order in Figueres. One of his childhood friends was the future FC Barcelona footballer Josep Samitier. In 1916, with the family of Ramon Pichó, he went on vacation to the city of Cadaqués, where he became acquainted with modern art.

Youth

In 1921, at the age of 47, Dali’s mother died of breast cancer. For Dali this was a tragedy. That same year he entered the Academy of San Fernando. The drawing he prepared for the exam seemed too small to the caretaker, which he informed his father, and he, in turn, informed his son. Young Salvador erased the entire drawing from the canvas and decided to draw a new one. But he only had 3 days left before the final assessment. However, the young man was in no hurry to get to work, which greatly worried his father, who was already for many years suffered his quirks. In the end, young Dali announced that the drawing was ready, but it was even smaller than the previous one, and this was a blow for his father. However, teachers, due to their extremely high skill They made an exception and accepted the young eccentric into the academy.

In 1922, Dali moved to the “Residence” (Spanish. Residencia de Estudiantes), a student residence in Madrid for gifted young people, and begins his studies. At this time, Dali met Luis Buñuel, Federico Garcia Lorca, and Pedro Garfias. He reads Freud's works with enthusiasm.

After becoming acquainted with new trends in painting, Dali experiments with the methods of Cubism and Dadaism. In 1926, he was expelled from the Academy for his arrogant and disdainful attitude towards teachers. In the same year, he goes to Paris for the first time, where he meets Pablo Picasso. Trying to find his own style, in the late 1920s he created a number of works influenced by Picasso and Joan Miró. In 1929, he participated with Buñuel in the creation of the surreal film Un Chien Andalou.

Then he first meets his future wife Gala (Elena Dmitrievna Dyakonova), who was then the wife of the poet Paul Eluard. Having become close to Salvador, Gala, however, continued to meet with her husband and started relationships with other poets and artists, which at that time seemed acceptable in those bohemian circles where Dali, Eluard and Gala moved. Realizing that he actually stole his friend’s wife, Salvador paints his portrait as “compensation.”

Early life

Dali's works are shown at exhibitions, he is gaining popularity. In 1929 he joined the group of surrealists organized by Andre Breton. At the same time, there is a break with his father. The hostility of the artist’s family towards Gala, the associated conflicts, scandals, as well as the inscription made by Dali on one of the canvases - “Sometimes I spit with pleasure on the portrait of my mother” - led to the fact that the father cursed his son and kicked him out of the house. The provocative, shocking and terrible actions of the artist were not always worth understanding literally and seriously: he probably did not want to offend his mother and did not even imagine what this would lead to, perhaps he longed to experience a series of feelings and experiences that he stimulated in himself with such blasphemous by action. But the father, upset by the long-ago death of his wife, whom he loved and whose memory he carefully preserved, could not stand his son’s antics, which became for him the last straw. In retaliation, the indignant Salvador Dali sent his sperm to his father in an envelope with an angry letter: “This is all I owe you.” Later, in the book “The Diary of a Genius,” the artist, already an elderly man, speaks well of his father, admits that he loved him very much and endured the suffering caused by his son.

In 1934, he unofficially married Gala. In the same year he visited the USA for the first time.

Break with the surrealists

After Caudillo Franco came to power in 1936, Dalí quarreled with the surrealists on the left and was expelled from the group. In response to Dali: “Surrealism is me.” El Salvador was practically apolitical, and even his monarchist views were not taken seriously, as well as his constantly advertised sexual passion to Hitler.

In 1933, Dali painted The Riddle of William Tell, where he depicts the Swiss folk hero in the image of Lenin with a huge buttock. Dali reinterpreted the Swiss myth according to Freud: Tell became a cruel father who wants to kill his child. Personal memories of Dali, who broke with his father, were layered. Lenin was perceived by communist-minded surrealists as spiritual, ideological father. The painting depicts dissatisfaction with an overbearing parent, a step towards the formation of a mature personality. But the surrealists took the drawing literally, as a caricature of Lenin, and some of them even tried to destroy the canvas.

The evolution of creativity. Departure from surrealism

In 1937, the artist visited Italy and was delighted with the works of the Renaissance. In his own works correctness begins to dominate human proportions and other features of academicism. Despite the departure from surrealism, his paintings are still filled with surreal fantasies. Later, Dali credited himself with saving art from modernist degradation, with which he associated his given name, because " Salvador" translated from Spanish means "Savior".

In 1939, Andre Breton, mocking Dali and the commercial component of his work, came up with his anagram nickname “ Avida Dollars", which in Latin is not precise, but recognizably means "greedy for dollars." Breton's joke instantly gained enormous popularity, but did not harm Dali's success, which far exceeded Breton's commercial success.

Life in the USA

With the outbreak of World War II, Dali and Gala left for the USA, where they lived from 1940 to 1948. In 1942 he published a fictionalized autobiography, The Secret Life of Salvador Dali. His literary experiments, like works of art, tend to be commercially successful. He collaborates with Walt Disney. He invites Dali to test his talent in cinema, but the project of the surreal cartoon Destino proposed by Salvador was considered commercially unfeasible, and work on it was stopped. Dali worked with director Alfred Hitchcock and created the set for the dream scene from the film Spellbound. However, the scene was cut into the film due to commercial reasons.

Mature and older years

Salvador Dali with his ocelot named Babou in 1965

After returning to Spain, Dali lived mainly in Catalonia. In 1958, he officially married Gala in the Spanish city of Girona. In 1965 he came to Paris and conquered it with his works, exhibitions and shocking actions. Removes short films, takes surreal photographs. In his films, he mainly uses reverse viewing effects, but skillfully selected shooting objects (flowing water, a ball bouncing down the steps), interesting comments, mysterious atmosphere, created acting artist, makes films unusual examples of art house. Dali appears in commercials, and even in such commercial activities he does not miss the opportunity for self-expression. TV viewers will long remember a chocolate advertisement in which the artist takes a bite of a piece of a bar, after which his mustache twirls in euphoric delight and he exclaims that he has gone crazy from this chocolate.

Salvador Dali in 1972

His relationship with Gala is quite complicated. On the one hand, from the very beginning of their relationship, she promoted him, found buyers for his paintings, and convinced him to paint works that were more understandable to the mass audience at the turn of the 20s and 30s. When there was no order for paintings, Gala forced her husband to develop product brands and costumes. Her strong, decisive nature was very necessary for the weak-willed artist. Gala was putting things in order in his studio, patiently putting away canvases, paints, and souvenirs that Dali had scattered senselessly while looking for the right thing. On the other hand, she constantly had relationships on the side, in later years the spouses often quarreled, Dali’s love was rather a wild passion, and Gala’s love was not without calculation, with which she “married a genius.” In 1968, Dali bought Pubol Castle for Gala, in which she lived separately from her husband, and which he himself could visit only with the written permission of his wife. In 1981, Dali developed Parkinson's disease. Gala dies in 1982.

Recent years

After the death of his wife, Dali experiences deep depression. His paintings themselves are simplified, and in them for a long time The motif of grief predominates, for example, variations on the Pietà theme. Parkinson's disease prevents Dali from painting. His latest works(“Cockfights”) are simple squiggles in which the bodies of the characters are guessed.

It was difficult to care for a sick and distraught old man; he threw whatever came to hand at the nurses, screamed, and bit.

After Gala's death, Salvador moved to Pubol, but in 1984 there was a fire in the castle. The paralyzed old man rang the bell unsuccessfully, trying to call for help. In the end, he overcame his weakness, fell out of bed and crawled towards the exit, but lost consciousness at the door. Dali received severe burns but survived. Before this incident, Salvador may have planned to be buried next to Gala, and even prepared a place in the crypt in the castle. However, after the fire, he left the castle and moved to the theater-museum, where he remained until the end of his days.

In early January 1989, Dali was hospitalized with a diagnosis of heart failure. The only intelligible phrase he uttered during the years of illness was “My friend Lorca.”

Salvador Dali died on January 23, 1989, at the age of 85. The artist bequeathed to bury him so that people could walk on the grave, so Dali’s body is walled up in the floor in one of the rooms of the Dali Theater-Museum in the city of Figueres. He bequeathed all his works to Spain.

In 2007, Spaniard Maria Pilar Abel Martinez announced that she was illegitimate daughter Salvador Dali. The woman claimed that many years ago Dali visited his friend’s house in the town of Cadaques, where her mother worked as a maid. Between Dali and her mother arose love affair, as a result of which Pilar was born in 1956. Allegedly, the girl knew from childhood that she was Dali’s daughter, but did not want to upset the feelings of her stepfather. At Pilar's request, a DNA test was carried out using hair and skin cells from death mask Dali. The results of the examination indicated the absence of family ties between Dali and Maria Pilar Abel Martinez. However, Pilar demanded that Dali's body be exhumed for a re-examination.

In June 2017, a court in Madrid decided to exhume the remains of Salvador Dali to take samples for the purpose of conducting a genetic examination to establish the possible paternity of a resident of Girona. On July 20, the coffin containing the remains of Salvador Dali was opened and exhumation was carried out. 300 people watched the opening of the coffin. If paternity is recognized, Dali’s daughter would be able to obtain rights to his surname and part of the inheritance. However, the DNA test clearly refuted the assumptions about the relationship of these people.

Creation

Theater

Cinema

In 1945, in collaboration with Walt Disney, he began work on animated film Destino. Production was then delayed due to financial problems; The Walt Disney Company released the film in 2003.

Design

Salvador Dali is the author of the packaging design for Chupa Chups. Enrique Bernat called his caramel "Chups", and at first it had only seven flavors: strawberry, lemon, mint, orange, chocolate, coffee with cream and strawberry with cream. The popularity of “Chups” grew, the amount of caramel produced increased, and new flavors appeared. Caramel could no longer remain in its original modest wrapper; it was necessary to come up with something original so that “Chups” would be recognized by everyone. Enrique Bernat turned to Salvador Dali with a request to draw something memorable. Brilliant artist I didn’t think long and in less than an hour I sketched out a picture for him that depicted the Chupa Chups daisy, which in a slightly modified form is today recognizable as the Chupa Chups logo in all corners of the planet. What made the new logo different was its location: it is located not on the side, but on top of the candy.

Female figure (Baku Museum contemporary art)

Horse and rider stumbling

Space elephant

In prison

Since 1965, in the main dining room of the prison complex on Rikers Island (USA), a drawing by Dali, which he wrote as an apology to prisoners for not being able to attend their lecture on art, has hung in a prominent place. In 1981, the drawing was hung in the hall “for safekeeping,” and in March 2003 it was replaced with a fake, and the original was stolen. Four employees were charged in this case, three of them pleaded guilty, the fourth was acquitted, but the original was not found.