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Sebastian's Arrows: Letters and Mementos of Salvador Dali and Federico Garcia Lorca
“Let us agree,” Federico Garcia Lorca wrote, “that one of man’s most beautiful postures is that of St. Sebastian.”
“In my ‘Saint Sebastian’ I remember you,” Salvador Dali replied to Garcia Lorca, referring to the essay on aesthetics that Dali had just written, “. . . and sometimes I think he is you. Let’s see whether Saint Sebastian turns out to be you.”
This exchange is but a glimpse into the complex relationship between two renowned and highly influential twentieth-century artists. On the centennial of Dali's birth, Sebastian’s Arrows presents a never-before-published collection of their letters, lectures, and mementos.
Written between 1925 and 1936, the letters and lectures bring to life a passionate friendship marked by a thoughtful dialogue on aesthetics and the constant interaction between poetry and painting. From their student days in Madrid's Residencia de Estudiantes, where the two waged war against cultural “putrefaction” and mocked the sacred cows of Spanish art, Dali and Garcia Lorca exchanged thoughts on the act of creation, modernity, and the meaning of their art. The volume chronicles how in their poetic skirmishes they sharpened and shaped each other’s work—Garcia Lorca defending his verses of absence and elegy and his love of tradition while Dali argued for his theories of “Clarity” and “Holy Objectivity” and the unsettling logic of Surrealism.
Christopher Maurer’s masterful prologue and selection of letters, texts, and images (many generously provided by the Fundacion Gala-Salvador Dali and Fundacion Federico Garcia Lorca), offer compelling and intimate insights into the lives and work of two iconic artists. The two men had a “tragic, passionate relationship,” Dali once wrote—a friendship pierced by the arrows of Saint Sebastian.
“In my ‘Saint Sebastian’ I remember you,” Salvador Dali replied to Garcia Lorca, referring to the essay on aesthetics that Dali had just written, “. . . and sometimes I think he is you. Let’s see whether Saint Sebastian turns out to be you.”
This exchange is but a glimpse into the complex relationship between two renowned and highly influential twentieth-century artists. On the centennial of Dali's birth, Sebastian’s Arrows presents a never-before-published collection of their letters, lectures, and mementos.
Written between 1925 and 1936, the letters and lectures bring to life a passionate friendship marked by a thoughtful dialogue on aesthetics and the constant interaction between poetry and painting. From their student days in Madrid's Residencia de Estudiantes, where the two waged war against cultural “putrefaction” and mocked the sacred cows of Spanish art, Dali and Garcia Lorca exchanged thoughts on the act of creation, modernity, and the meaning of their art. The volume chronicles how in their poetic skirmishes they sharpened and shaped each other’s work—Garcia Lorca defending his verses of absence and elegy and his love of tradition while Dali argued for his theories of “Clarity” and “Holy Objectivity” and the unsettling logic of Surrealism.
Christopher Maurer’s masterful prologue and selection of letters, texts, and images (many generously provided by the Fundacion Gala-Salvador Dali and Fundacion Federico Garcia Lorca), offer compelling and intimate insights into the lives and work of two iconic artists. The two men had a “tragic, passionate relationship,” Dali once wrote—a friendship pierced by the arrows of Saint Sebastian.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 2005
4 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Salvador Dalí
385 books723 followersSalvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquis of Púbol, was a Spanish surrealist painter born in Figueres, Catalonia.
Dalí was a skilled draftsman, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work. His painterly skills are often attributed to the influence of Renaissance masters. His best known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in 1931.
Salvador Dalí's artistic repertoire also included film, sculpture, and photography. He collaborated with Walt Disney on the Academy Award-nominated short cartoon Destino, which was released posthumously in 2003. He also collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock on Hitchcock's film Spellbound.
Dalí insisted on his "Arab lineage", claiming that his ancestors were descended from the Moors who occupied Southern Spain for nearly 800 years (711-1492), and attributed to these origins, "my love of everything that is gilded and excessive, my passion for luxury and my love of oriental clothes."
Widely considered to be greatly imaginative, Dalí had an affinity for doing unusual things to draw attention to himself. This sometimes irked those who loved his art as much as it annoyed his critics, since his eccentric manner sometimes drew more public attention than his artwork. The purposefully-sought notoriety led to broad public recognition and many purchases of his works by people from all walks of life.
Dalí was a skilled draftsman, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work. His painterly skills are often attributed to the influence of Renaissance masters. His best known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in 1931.
Salvador Dalí's artistic repertoire also included film, sculpture, and photography. He collaborated with Walt Disney on the Academy Award-nominated short cartoon Destino, which was released posthumously in 2003. He also collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock on Hitchcock's film Spellbound.
Dalí insisted on his "Arab lineage", claiming that his ancestors were descended from the Moors who occupied Southern Spain for nearly 800 years (711-1492), and attributed to these origins, "my love of everything that is gilded and excessive, my passion for luxury and my love of oriental clothes."
Widely considered to be greatly imaginative, Dalí had an affinity for doing unusual things to draw attention to himself. This sometimes irked those who loved his art as much as it annoyed his critics, since his eccentric manner sometimes drew more public attention than his artwork. The purposefully-sought notoriety led to broad public recognition and many purchases of his works by people from all walks of life.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 22, 2021
This is a splendid collection of letters between two geniuses of their respective crafts, so heartbreakingly beautiful and illuminating. Not to mention how vital it is for the lgbt+ history. One thing I cherish about Sebastian's Arrows the most is the presentation of raw thought and unpolished ideas that are written "in one breath" with only the thought of the one you love in mind, as if holding onto a golden coin with their name in your hand. It was very difficult to obtain the hard copy of this book and I am never parting with it.
December 14, 2010
C. Maurer's effort to lace the correspondence between SD and FGL, mementos, artwork, and meditations are a commendable one. I believe that this collection's beauty is not perhaps what is included, but what may be excluded from the compilation that provide the reader the power to interpret the works. The letters addressed to Dali's sister, Anna Maria, from FGL are perhaps the most telling/personal in the collection. These wonderfully depict the beauty in Lorca's letters that one is left yearning the letters addressed to SD (disappointingly, not many survived/included in "Sebastian's Arrows"). The letters personify love, friendship, and a form of belonging to a non-binding force.
Other than the initial portion of the compilation, Maurer offers meditations by both SD and FGL on "imagination, inspiration, envision." We learn the command Lorca had of pertinent painters of the time like Picasso, Juan Gris, and Joan Miro outside his motherly literary realm. Likewise, Dali's meditations regarding authors in the '20s (and his despise for many of them from Paul Valery, Mallarme, and Andre Gide) underscore his agility in Lorca's literary arena. Interestingly, Lorca states that Dadaism is a form of "literary painting," hence bridging the movements together in one precise climax of comprehension of the new movement in Europe. If anything from this, we can witness that these two seemingly different individuals are far from it -- they formed a relationship so withstanding, diverse, electric, and gardened such common respect over years that it was heartbreaking at times to read as it disintergrated.
I am not parting with my copy anytime soon. It will serve as a fond refresher for what is still yet to be uncovered between Dali & Lorca in the years to come.
Other than the initial portion of the compilation, Maurer offers meditations by both SD and FGL on "imagination, inspiration, envision." We learn the command Lorca had of pertinent painters of the time like Picasso, Juan Gris, and Joan Miro outside his motherly literary realm. Likewise, Dali's meditations regarding authors in the '20s (and his despise for many of them from Paul Valery, Mallarme, and Andre Gide) underscore his agility in Lorca's literary arena. Interestingly, Lorca states that Dadaism is a form of "literary painting," hence bridging the movements together in one precise climax of comprehension of the new movement in Europe. If anything from this, we can witness that these two seemingly different individuals are far from it -- they formed a relationship so withstanding, diverse, electric, and gardened such common respect over years that it was heartbreaking at times to read as it disintergrated.
I am not parting with my copy anytime soon. It will serve as a fond refresher for what is still yet to be uncovered between Dali & Lorca in the years to come.
April 7, 2011
actually only read it 1/2 way through before it had to be returned. quite lovely bits in the first half though. i hadn't found any of dali's poems in any other book til this one, which made it all the more fascinating of a read! it was also lovely to find hint of a back-story via snapshots of memories and landscapes which bled their way through his mind's eye to spill onto each canvas.
February 22, 2011
I didn't realize that most of the letters from Federico to Salvador were lost. I was a little irked. The majority of the letters from Federico in the book are to Salvador's sister..ugh.
March 3, 2015
Amazing, reads like poetry. Excellent transalation.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews