Happy Birthday Salvador Dali – eccentric individualist
Today is the birthday of the Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali (1904 – 1989) As I have already written a post about the artist (here) I thought it might be fun to take a look at the personality of Dali the man – the fun bits. This video I think shows the artist’s very individuality. Dali illustrates that he is all things to all people (and especially to himself) as he struggles slightly to understand the English language There is also a childishness, a naivity which I find very charming about the artist. I suspect that under all the bluster there may have been a rather shy, quiet person.
Dali is one of those people who can be unintentionally funny – though sometimes you are not quite sure what he intends (he was after all a surrealist so strange behaviour is almost compulsory) The advertisers certainly got their money’s worth from the dramatic Dali in this short advertisement. Who knew eating chocolate could be such a surreal experience 😀
The last video shows some of the prolific Dali’s paintings. Where did all the eccentric artists go? There doesn’t seem to be any to measure up to Dali the man, for his sense of humour, his talent and his bizarre way of looking at things. What a great artist and character he was!
Thanks to kembrew and bestofcomputer3000 and ravenst for the videos!
May 11, 2011 at 12:51 pm
His ceramic tiles are of interest. His chess set is really bizarre
May 12, 2011 at 9:30 am
Yes – just had a look at that carlagostino! love the fingers – typical Dali to take some components out of a painting, I suspect it was this one;-
http://tinyurl.com/6khh9cl
The tiles I hadn’t seen before though. Dali had so many talents 🙂
May 12, 2011 at 10:03 am
Pottery of Picasso is cool too
May 11, 2011 at 9:01 pm
Great fun, Lynda! Who, may I ask, does not stop and look at a Dali? The other thing I have noticed is the number of people who include him in their list of favorite artists. Thank you for sharing this humor and celebrating the birthday of a great artist indeed. Fun post!
May 12, 2011 at 9:40 am
I haven’t come across any people who haven’t heard of Dali – or included him in their favorite artists. I think he and Picasso are most peoples idea of the typical artist (eccentric, slightly mad and very prolific They are only missing a garret to starve in (though lots of Dali’s work ‘disappeared’ mysteriously towards the end) LOVE Dali – glad you do too Leslie! I find him very endearing and wonderfully eccentric – a great character as well as a talented artist. I saw a great deal of his drawings and sketchbooks once – and was STUNNED! What a wonderful draughtsman this man was too!
May 12, 2011 at 9:18 am
I just love his work. He had such a crazy genius which had so many hidden messages. No one like him around now. Another great post, Lynda.
May 12, 2011 at 9:44 am
You’re right Jessica – I can’t think of any other artist today who has anything like his charisma. We always tend to think of film stars having these personas (like the Late Elizabeth Taylor being one of the last Hollywood legends) but I suppose artists like Dali and Picasso and Warhol had this kind of Hollywood persona, but in the art world. Glad you liked this post Jessica!
May 12, 2011 at 11:19 am
I do like Dali ,his work is so varied and hes unique ,hes one of those people who make you smile when you think of them
May 12, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Yes – a most surreal smile 😀 A definite one off!
May 15, 2011 at 10:16 am
Such a clever man. I love that painting with the clockfaces melting and bending. I wonder how he would have used social network sites and Twitter today??!
May 15, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Hheh I think he would have probably put some enigmatic phrases on his facebook! Twitter posts would probably consist of just @Dali 😀
May 18, 2011 at 10:32 pm
Wow, what a guy.
I never really knew too much about him except that he was a surrealist painter.
I think the label ‘renaissance man’ truly fits him
May 19, 2011 at 1:00 pm
Hhehe I know! and quite a character 🙂 I think that his image and his work are still very relevent today – they never look dated.
PS Have you looked at my latest experimental poem (my first poem video) being a expert in video presentation yourself, I’d be interested in what you think 🙂
http://bookstains.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/poem-sense-sojourn/
May 11, 2012 at 9:57 pm
Yes … congratulation to the grand master Salvador Dali : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgpGRjC2DRA
May 16, 2012 at 12:44 pm
Interesting genio:-)
May 16, 2012 at 1:27 pm
I knew his brother, Dilly Dali.
May 19, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Hhaha trust you Carl:-)