By Paul Chimera
Salvador Dalí Historian
I know that many of my fellow Salvador Dalí enthusiasts/aficionados/collectors/fans/scholars/historians – call us what you will – are as fascinated by Dalí the man as by Dalí the artist.
What we mean, of course, is that we love the Dalí persona: the antics, the surrealist happenings, the public flamboyance, the relentless egocentricity. It made Dalí Dalí.
And while we love the fruits of Dalí’s tireless efforts when he was off-camera and at the easel, we’re also intrigued by images of the Master in the very act itself of painting, or creating prints, drawings, watercolors, or sculpture.
So today I’m sharing a mélange of photographs of Salvador Dalí doing what he did best: creating. Whether at the easel, or working plein air, or otherwise making artistic magic.
Dalí works on a large stage set design, his suit and tie protected by a smock.
Dalí similarly clothed as he paints a large image of friend and model Amanda Lear.
Dalí virtually always used a maul stick to steady his hand — here as he works on Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus.
Dalí painting the controversial portrait of Franco’s granddaughter.
Dalí’s favorite model was his wife and muse, Gala.
Al fresco painting among the rocks of Port Lligat, as Gala reads — perhaps aloud to her husband.
Gala and others watch as the Maestro paints Christ of Valles.
Dalí had a moveable, electronic easel system, allowing huge canvases like Battle of Tetuan to be raised and lowered so he could paint at eye-level.
Dalí famously began a dematerialization of Vermeer’s Lacemaker while seated at a rhinoceros cage in a French zoo.
Here are three ultra-serious poses, as Salvador Dalí — away from the cameras and reporters’ notebooks — carefully creates another masterpiece (although, in the third picture, someone is crouching down for a snap or two of the master at work). . .
Another view of the Master carefully painting one of his ingenious stereoscopic pictures.
Dalí working outside, during two vastly different periods in his long and prolific career.
Painting a child’s room aboard an ocean liner (above) and comfortably sketching at home in Spain (below).
Dalí worked in every medium and style . . .
Whether dressed in a brocade vest, a painter’s smock, or casual attire, Salvador Dalí wielded a paint brush like no one else. A picture is worth a thousand words, as it’s said, so I hope you enjoyed today’s pictorial tour of the great one at work, making artistic magic.
[Images gratefully used under Fair Use provisions for journalistic purposes only]
