The Persistence of Memory

Allan Warren, Portrait of Salvador Dali, taken in Hôtel Meurice, Paris, 1972

There is no denying that Salvador Dali is one of the most uniquely recognizable artists of the twentieth century. It is easy to become captivated by the man behind the paintbrush when examining the work of Dali. As he explained in1980, “People love mystery, and that is why they love my paintings” (Maddox 62). Salvador Dali lived in his own world where genius, madness, and inspiration were all closely intertwined in his never-ending search for all things surreal. His undeniable creativity is apparent in all aspects of his character as well as through his work. Dali's quirky mustache and avant-garde apparel are as easily identifiable as his most famous works of art, but what exactly has kept Dali in his spot of popularity since his lifetime? As one of the most controversial artists of modern times, Salvador Dali redefined the Surrealist Art Movement through his acute interest in self-analyzing, creative approaches to artistic production, and extensive body of work.

Salvador Dali is among the most fascinating artists the world has ever seen. The terms 'neurotic', 'egocentric', and 'mad' reappear time and time in publications on Dali's character (Maddox 7). He was always an abnormal character, even in his childhood. Dali showed considerable talent as an artist before the age of six and by the age of seventeen, he was creating works that showcased his “growing hallucinatory power” (Maddox 12). Even in his early childhood, Dali was abnormally imaginative, selfishly preoccupied with his own pleasures, and extraordinarily violent (Maddox 7). He remembered having “fits of hysteria and acts of rage toward his family and his playmates” throughout his younger years (Soby 3). On several occasions as a young boy, he would throw himself down a stone staircase in his schoolyard because he enjoyed the frightened expressions of his classmates (Soby 3). When he was an adolescent, he would pour hot coffee and milk down his chest at breakfast before he retired to his studio (laundry room) to paint (Maddox 13). As Dali aged, he seemed to not only embrace but even flaunt his abnormal behavior. To Dali, his madness was a stroke of genius that he often self-promoted. His egocentric nature became a trademark of his. He spoke and wrote very highly of himself saying things like “The greatest stroke of luck for a painter are (one) to be Spanish and (two) to be called Dali” (Maddox 38). Dali's greatest interest was in himself and his subconscious thoughts. He derived a great deal of inspiration from Sigmund Freud's theories about human nature, an obsession that began to consume him at the age of seventeen while studying at The School of Fine Art in Madrid ( Maddox 21). Freud's Interpretation of Dreams became a major significance in Dali's life and on to the Surrealist Art Movement (Maddox 21). Dali spent a great deal of his life psycho-analyzing the content of his dreams and projecting the imagery within his subconscious thoughts into his artwork. In his book, Conquest of the Irrational, Dali wrote “The fact that I myself, at the moment of painting, do not understand my own pictures does not mean that these pictures have no meaning; on the contrary, their meaning is so profound, complex, coherent and involuntary that it escapes the most simple analysis of logical intuition” (Maddox 64). Dali proclaimed that his art was inspired by a “constant, hallucinatory energy” and would do anything he could to inspire that energy (Soby 7). At times, he would stand on his head for extensive periods of time to induce hallucinations (Maddox 30). Another way he sought inspiration was by sitting on a chair with a plate full of marbles in his hand. He would then fall asleep and as the marbles hit the floor, he would paint the last image of his dreams (Maddox 32). He defined his unique approaches as a “spontaneous method of irrational knowledge based upon the interpretive-critical association of delirius phenomena,” (Soby 11). He published his interesting way of thinking that he called “the paranoiac-critical method” in The Invisible Woman in 1929 and again defined it in Conquest of the Irrational in 1935 (Maddox 94). Although a handful of Surrealist painters of the time period, such as Picasso, drew inspiration from dreams and irrational thinking, Dali was able to move past them because he accepted every form of madness and projected it into his creations ( Maddox 54).

Surrealism was defined by former Dadaist, Andre Breton in 1924 as “pure psychic automatism, by which it is intended to express... the real process of thought... in the absence of all control exercised by reason” (Maddox 40). Although the principles of Surrealism were clear, there was no way to define a Surreal painting at that time. The idea of a surreal painting seemed contradictory and many people such as Pierre Naville expressed the idea that there could be no such thing as a surreal painting (Maddox 40). Surrealist artists before Dali experimented with the idea of creating paintings without thinking about how the outcome of their artwork would look. Many painters such as Jean Miro would let their paint brush wander over a surface until the forms created from the absence of thought inspired objects. (Maddox 40). Dali; however, favored what he called “concrete irrationality” (Maddox 7). He believed that “You have to systematically create confusion – it sets creativity free.” (Maddox 56). Dali agreed with the Surrealists approach to inspiration that was derived from the absence of reason but he also believed that his execution needed a certain level of control and should be developed in an entirely conscious way in order for his work to reach its full potential (Maddox 42). He portrayed his subconscious imagery with acute technical precision so the subject matter in his paintings looked realistic. The realism of Dali's painting style in contrast to the surrealism of his subject matter lead to a new style of artwork that had never been seen before.

Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931, oil on canvas, 24 x 33 cm

In 1931, Dali painted his most well-known painting, The Persistence of Memory, a work of art that many art historians consider to be the archetypal Surrealist painting (Soby 31). The painting portrays melting pocket watches, ants, and an abstracted head-like figure in the middle of the composition; all motifs that reoccur time and time again in Dali's work. The symbolism Dali portrays refers to specific aspects of his subconscious desires based on experiences he had throughout his lifetime. The Persistence of Memory marked the first major contribution Dali had on the Surrealist Movement. As his exploration into new ideas commenced, he managed to contribute to nearly every aspect of the movement throughout his body of work. Dali constantly dwelled in multiple forms of Surrealist activity including writing, painting, sculpture, and poetry (Maddox 64). He strived to revive the “Renaissance ideal of the artist as a man whose talents are applicable to the whole problem of esthetics” (Soby 25). He experimented with and collaborated with many other artists to make jewelry design, fashion design, furniture design, cinema, and set design (Soby 25). Although Dali's multiple collaborations expanded his dimensionality as an artist, only Dali was able to claim his work in minor media as equally important as his paintings (Soby 26). Unlike most modern artists, who undoubtedly prefer to be considered by their paintings or sculptures beforehand, Dali would defend his objects against his own canvases at times (Soby 26). The connection to surrealism that Dali felt inspired his widespread activity. He was obsessed with all aspects of visual phenomena, with every experiment he created connecting to his dream imagery. As Sarane Alexander explained, Dali was “a Renaissance man converted to psychoanalysis” (Maddox 64). His impact on art history was marked by his own technical and idealogical development, which he portrayed in the endless number of paintings, drawings, and other forms of artistic creation he produced in his lifetime.

Salvador Dali is without a doubt one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. His meticulously crafted work speaks measures on political, social, and spiritual matters while simultaneously creating a new definition of Surrealist Art. Dali's theories on concrete irrationality and the paranoia-critical method revolutionized art history in an era of stepped up emotions and much needed spiritual regeneration. His significance on popular consciousness is extraordinary. To some, Dali may be a mad genius “projected into fame by an unusual technique, a weird imagination and a flair for publicity”, but the impact his work has had goes beyond the hype surrounding the man (Soby 26). Dali is an icon. His quirky personality, innovative ideologies, and experimentation in multiple mediums has kept Dali in discussions and history books today and given him the widely-accepted title of “the only authentic voice of Surrealism” (Maddox 69).

Works Cited

Maddox, Conroy. Salvador Dali: Eccentric and Genius. Cologne, West Germany: Benedikt Taschen, 1990.

Soby, James Thrall. Salvador Dali: The Museum of Modern Art. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1946.