By Paul Chimera Salvador Dalí Historian-Writer Copyright 2019 The face of the woman standing in the upper portion of Salvador Dalí’s huge 1962 painting, Battle of Tetuan – presumed to be Dalí’s wife Gala ever since it was painted 57 years ago – now appears to actually be that of a young former United…
By Paul Chimera Salvador Dalí Historian-Writer It’s been 30 years. Thirty years since the world lost one of the most important, gifted, controversial and colorful artists of all time: Salvador Dalí. January 23, 1989. The day Dalí died. It still makes me twitch a little with sadness, just writing those words. People…
By Paul Chimera Salvador Dalí Historian-Writer Today’s post is going to be a kind of grab-bag of things, consistent with the intrinsic diversity of Salvador Dalí’s art itself. The fact is that the man was so prolific and exhibited such a rich mixture of styles and subjects, it’s really rather difficult to label him…
By Paul Chimera Salvador Dalí Historian-Writer Spain leaps to mind, of course, when we think of Salvador Dalí. Dalí, after all, was as Freud described him: “a complete example of a Spaniard.” And Freud added, “What a fanatic!” But for those of us fortunate enough to live in the United States, we’re blessed with…
By Paul Chimera Salvador Dalí Historian/Writer I love coming across things about Salvador Dalí that (a) I know I’ve never been aware of before, and (b) I’m pretty sure most others haven’t either. Today’s post is a double-whammy – the good kind – because I’m looking at two Dalí creations that have escaped my…
By Paul Chimera Salvador Dalí Historian/Writer Salvador Dalí’s popularity – during his long and illustrious career, and still very much today – was not unlike that of a rock star. He was not merely a great artist, but a pop celebrity as well. I remember an anecdote shared years ago by Eleanor Morse,…
By Paul Chimera Salvador Dalí Writer/Historian As a Dalí historian, blogger, collector, and die-hard aficionado, I confess I don’t focus nearly enough on Salvador Dalí’s early art – the very first works he created as a teenager and even younger. Of course, it’s easy to get distracted from such a focus, given the…
By Paul Chimera Salvador Dalí Writer/Historian It’s “fuego” in Spanish. “Foc” in Catalan. And it occupies a curious place in the life and work of Spain’s hottest artistic product, Salvador Dalí. I’m talking, of course, about “fire.” Dalí’s most prominent and provocative representation of fire appeared in his outrageous and iconic images of…
By Paul Chimera Salvador Dalí Historian The importance of Dalí’s homeland in Port Lligat, on Spain’s Costa Brava, can never be underestimated. Dalí’s surrealism was influenced enormously by the distinctive, unique shapes, colors, and textures of the rocky terrain that skirted his and Gala’s seaside villa. The terraced cliffs, dramatic skies, and peculiar,…
By Paul Chimera Salvador Dalí Historian Salvador Dalí’s work is so much more interesting – at least I think so – when you can get a glimpse into his creative process. Dalí was such a perfectionist of a painter (not to mention as a creator of prints, drawings, watercolors, sculpture, even holograms) that it’s…