Salvator Dali

World of Art

by Salvador Dalí, Dawn Ades

"Salvador Dali is the central figure in surrealism and one of the most eccentric artists of the modern age. A brilliant painter and draughtsman, Dali described his style as 'paranoid-critical'. Sexual and religious content is mixed with highly subjective and personal sensations. Death, decay and destruction are repeated themes." Dali's life was marred with an early identity crisis, which led to him living his life oscillating between exaggerated self-promotion and psychological self-destruction. Gala, his wife and muse, had to save him from many crises. Meanwhile, Dali invented himself as a commercial object.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History, Biography

607 pages, Hardcover

First published September 27, 1982

About the author

Salvador 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.

Reviews

[Charoula Akasha_Minerva Koinoyokan]

Απλά το αγαπώ
"Μόνο πέτρες πέφτουν από τον ουρανό του παιδιού μας" αναφερόμενος ο πατέρας του Salvador Dali στο πίνακα του γιου του, Γέρος στο Λυκόφως [1918-1919]. /* Στον πίνακα αυτό το θέμα ήταν ένα εκτυφλωτικό ηλιοβασίλεμα ενώ τα σύννεφα ήταν πέτρες διάφορων μεγεθών και ( ο πίνακας) κρεμόταν στην τραπεζαρία του σπιτιού της οικογένειας Νταλί. */
♥
Ευχαριστώ που είχα την ευκαιρία να το διαβάσω!!

[Arax Miltiadous · Rating 4 out of 5]

all you want to learn about this brilliant mind is here.

[danielle; ▵ · Rating 2 out of 5]

tedious; the only art book I’ve read that lowered my opinion of the artist

[Meredith Donisi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dalí by Dawn Ades is a very well-written biography that gives the reader considerable insight into the life and mind of Salvador Dalí. Ades tells writes his childhood, the psycho-analysis of his work, and even his work in film. The book is broken up into easy to follow, well-organized chapters that allow you to find whatever information on Dalí you could want. This biography is suitable for high school students and above and is fairly easy to read and understand even without much prior art knowledge. Many terms that may not be understood by every reader are explained and the flow of the reading makes it easy to follow. Ades includes a wide range of pictures both in color and black and white of works by Dalí and others. This book has the perfect mixture of academic information on art and culture and of Dalí's personal life and emotional details. After reading this book I feel much familiar with concepts I wasn't before. Not only is this book interesting and informative but it is also inspiring. Reading of the way Dalí lived his life being completely authentic and unafraid of disapproval made me realize what amazing things can come from being true to oneself. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in art or psychology.

[Sarah Hobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, so I admit it - I went into reading this book thinking "Oh, it's just an art book." Well, 'Dalí' is so much more than that.

​Dawn Ades has created a book that provides not only a biographical outlook on Dalí's professional life, but has also provided a psychological insight into his motivations, passions and influences.

Click here for my full review of this book...

[Karolina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative book interpreting Dalis work

[D.J. Desmond · Rating 3 out of 5]

it reads like a textbook, but it's a pretty comprehensive piece on a surrealist's body of work

[Alessandro Chitarrini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Salvador Dalì was unique, this book explains amazingly all his life and works he did.

[Andrew Volpe]

I feel very fortunate to have seen the Dali Retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art in 2005. This book is also probably my 2nd heaviest book!

[Hamza · Rating 5 out of 5]

A detailed bio, very close and exact.

[Nymeria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so beautiful, and full of wonderful art and a detailed chronological summary of the life and of the artist.