The Influence that Salvador Dali Had on the Surrealist Movement Essay

The Influence that Salvador Dali Had on the Surrealist Movement - Essay Example The essay "The Influence that Salvador Dali Had on the Surrealist Movement" will consider the art movement called surrealism and comment on the influence of Salvador Dali, one of its greatest practitioners at the forefront of this art movement. Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was one of the most popular artists of the surrealist movement. Surrealism can be defined as the stuff of dreams, what is held in the subconscious or unconscious, and it is the expression of these thoughts that were the impetus behind the surrealist movement. It is the complete absence of regulated thought and action, in fact the anti thesis of it. The objective of the surrealist movement was to give flight and power to spontaneity and celebrate the absence of order or contrived circumstances. Negative emotions ran high against the established powers after World War I- in fact surrealism was on the rise even in the waning days of World War II. The portrayal of anti establishment sentiment through art and literature de fined the surrealist movement in many ways. Dali in fact took on the name of his elder brother who had died nine months before he was born. His father was a lawyer, notary and a strict disciplinarian. His mother however encouraged his artistic pursuits. Dali believed he was a reincarnation of his brother after it was suggested by his parents that he had similar features to the deceased sibling. Dali was deeply attached to his mother and was distraught on her death in 1921. After her death, his father married her sister, Dali’s aunt. ... With a sharp sense of fashion, he was regarded as a dandy. However his art stood out as well as he was experimenting with Cubism at the time. However he was thrown out of school before the final exams after uttering the scandalous comment that there was no one competent enough to examine him. Dali moved to France and his early works were heavily inspired by Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso, whom Dali adored. Inspired by the artist Diego Velazquez, Dali began sporting a distinctive moustache that became an iconic trademark for the rest of his life. Dali met his future wife Gala, a Russian immigrant ten years his senior at a fellow artist Paul Eluard’s residence in 1929. They were married in a civil ceremony in 1934 and later celebrated a Catholic wedding in 1958. Dali had up to this point been supported by wealthy art collector Edward James of the UK. Dali’s work was introduced to the USA by the art critic In 1931 Dali created his most well known masterpiece ‘The Persis tence of Memory’ and the rest as they say is history. He became so famous that even the creator of the surrealist movement Andre Breton began to grudge him with the taunting derogatory nickname Avida Dollars meaning ‘eager for dollars’. During World War II, Dali and his wife moved to the USA, staying there for eight years. However beginning in 1949, Dali moved back to Catalonia, Spain. After World War II, Dali’s work included influences from religion, science and even optical illusions. Dali’s health suffered a serious setback in the 1980 when his wife in her senility had been feeding Dali with a dangerous cocktail of drugs that impaired his health and made one hand shake uncontrollably. After Gala herself died in 1982, Dali tried to kill himself through starvation but was