What did El Salvador give? Biography of Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali ( full name- Salvador Domenech Felip Jacinth Dali and Domenech, Marquis de Pubol; cat. Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marqués de Dalí de Púbol; Spanish Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marqués de Dalí y de Púbol). Born May 11, 1904 in Figueres - died January 23, 1989 in Figueres. Spanish painter, graphic artist, sculptor, director, writer. One of the most famous representatives of surrealism.

Worked on the films: “Un Chien Andalou,” “The Golden Age,” “Spellbound.” Author of the books Secret life Salvador Dali, as told by himself" (1942), "The Diary of a Genius" (1952-1963), Oui: The Paranoid-Critical Revolution (1927-33) and the essay "The Tragic Myth of Angelus Millet."

Salvador Dali was born in Spain on May 11, 1904 in the city of Figueres, province of Girona, into the family of a wealthy notary. He was a Catalan by nationality, perceived himself as such and insisted on this peculiarity of his. Had a sister and an older brother (October 12, 1901 - August 1, 1903), who died of meningitis. Later, at the age of 5, at his grave, Salvador was told by his parents that he was the reincarnation of his older brother.

As a child, Dali was a smart, but arrogant and uncontrollable child.

Once he even started a scandal in the shopping area for the sake of a candy, a crowd gathered around and the police asked the owner of the shop to open it during siesta and give this sweetness to the naughty boy. He achieved his goal through whims and simulation, always striving to stand out and attract attention.

Numerous complexes and phobias prevented him from joining ordinary school life and forming the usual bonds of friendship and sympathy with children.

But, like any person, experiencing sensory hunger, he sought emotional contact with children by any means, trying to get used to their team, if not as a comrade, then in any other role, or rather the only one he was capable of - as a shocking and a naughty child, strange, eccentric, always acting contrary to other people's opinions.

Losing at school gambling, he acted as if he had won and was triumphant. Sometimes he would start fights for no reason.

Part of the complexes that led to all this were caused by the classmates themselves: they treated the “strange” child rather intolerantly, took advantage of his fear of grasshoppers, slipped these insects down his collar, which drove Salvador to hysterics, which he later told about in his book “The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, Told by Himself.”

He began studying fine arts at the municipal art school. From 1914 to 1918 he was educated at the Academy of the Brothers of the Marist Order in Figueres. One of his childhood friends was the future FC Barcelona footballer Josep Samitier. In 1916, with the family of Ramon Pichó, he went on vacation to the city of Cadaqués, where he became acquainted with modern art.

In 1921 he entered the Academy of San Fernando. The drawing, presented by him as an applicant, was highly appreciated by the teachers, but was not accepted due to its small size. Salvador Dali was given 3 days to create a new drawing. However, the young man was in no hurry to get to work, which greatly worried his father, who was already long years suffered his quirks. In the end, young Dali announced that the drawing was ready, but it was even smaller than the previous one, and this was a blow for his father. However, the teachers, due to their extremely high skill, made an exception and accepted the young eccentric into the academy.

In the same year, Salvador Dali's mother dies, which becomes a tragedy for him.

In 1922, he moved to the “Residence” (Spanish: Residencia de Estudiantes) (a student dormitory in Madrid for gifted young people) and began his studies. In those years, everyone noted his panache. At this time he met Luis Buñuel, Federico Garcia Lorca, Pedro Garfias. He reads works with enthusiasm.

Acquaintance with new trends in painting is developing - Dali experiments with the methods of cubism and dadaism. In 1926, he was expelled from the Academy for his arrogant and disdainful attitude towards teachers. In the same year he goes to Paris for the first time, where he meets. Trying to find own style, in the late 1920s creates a series of works influenced by Picasso and Joan Miró. In 1929, he participated with Buñuel in the creation of the surreal film “Un Chien Andalou.”

Then he first meets his future wife Gala (Elena Dmitrievna Dyakonova), who was then the wife of the poet Paul Eluard. Having become close to Salvador, Gala, however, continued to meet with her husband and started relationships with other poets and artists, which at that time seemed acceptable in those bohemian circles where Dali, Eluard and Gala moved. Realizing that he actually stole his friend’s wife, Salvador paints his portrait as “compensation.”

Dali's works are shown at exhibitions, he is gaining popularity. In 1929 he joined the group of surrealists organized by Andre Breton. At the same time, there is a break with his father. The hostility of the artist’s family towards Gala, the associated conflicts, scandals, as well as the inscription made by Dali on one of the canvases - “Sometimes I spit with pleasure on the portrait of my mother” - led to the fact that the father cursed his son and kicked him out of the house.

The provocative, shocking and seemingly terrible actions of the artist were not always worth understanding literally and seriously: he probably did not want to offend his mother and did not even imagine what this would lead to, perhaps he longed to experience a series of feelings and experiences that he stimulated in such a blasphemous, at first glance, act. But the father, upset by the long-ago death of his wife, whom he loved and whose memory he carefully preserved, could not stand his son’s antics, which became for him the last straw. In retaliation, the indignant Salvador Dali sent his sperm to his father in an envelope with an angry letter: “This is all I owe you.” Later, in the book “The Diary of a Genius,” the artist, already an elderly man, speaks well of his father, admits that he loved him very much and endured the suffering caused by his son.

In 1934, he unofficially married Gala (the official wedding took place in 1958 in the Spanish town of Girona). In the same year he visited the USA for the first time.

After Caudillo Franco came to power in 1936, Dalí quarreled with the surrealists on the left and was expelled from the group.

In response, Dali, not without reason, states: "Surrealism is me".

Salvador was practically apolitical, and even his monarchist views should be understood surrealistically, that is, not seriously, as well as his constantly advertised sexual passion for Hitler.

He lived surrealistically, his statements and works had a broader and deep meaning rather than the interests of specific political parties.

So, in 1933, he painted the painting The Riddle of William Tell, where he depicts the Swiss folk hero in the image of Lenin with a huge buttock.

Dali reinterpreted the Swiss myth according to Freud: Tell became a cruel father who wants to kill his child. Personal memories of Dali, who broke with his father, were layered. Lenin was perceived by communist-minded surrealists as a spiritual, ideological father. The painting depicts dissatisfaction with an overbearing parent, a step towards the formation of a mature personality. But the surrealists took the drawing literally, as a caricature of Lenin, and some of them even tried to destroy the canvas.

In 1937, the artist visited Italy and was delighted with the works of the Renaissance. In his own works, the correctness of human proportions and other academic features begin to dominate. Despite the departure from surrealism, his paintings are still filled with surrealist fantasies. Later, Dali (in the best traditions of his conceit and shockingness) credits himself with saving art from modernist degradation, with which he associates his given name(“Salvador” means “Savior” in Spanish).

In 1939, Andre Breton, mocking Dali and the commercial component of his work (which, however, Breton himself was not alien to), came up with an anagram nickname for him: “Avida Dollars” (which in Latin is not entirely accurate, but recognizable means “ greedy for dollars"). Breton's joke instantly gained enormous popularity, but did not harm Dalí's commercial success, which far exceeded Breton's.

With the outbreak of World War II, Dali and Gala left for the United States, where they lived from 1940 to 1948. In 1942, he published a fictionalized autobiography, “The Secret Life of Salvador Dali.” His literary experiences, like works of art, as a rule, turn out to be commercially successful. He collaborates with Walt Disney. He invites Dali to test his talent in cinema - an art that at that time was surrounded by an aura of magic, miracles and wide possibilities. But the surreal cartoon project Destino, proposed by Salvador, was considered commercially unfeasible, and work on it was stopped. Dali works with director Alfred Hitchcock and paints the scenery for the dream scene from the film Spellbound. However, the scene was included in the film very truncated - again for commercial reasons.

After returning to Spain, he lives mainly in his beloved Catalonia. In 1965 he came to Paris and again, as almost 40 years ago, conquered it with his works, exhibitions and shocking actions. Films quirky short films, takes surreal photographs. In his films, he mainly uses reverse viewing effects, but skillfully selected subjects (flowing water, a ball bouncing down the steps), interesting comments, a mysterious atmosphere created acting artist, makes films unusual examples of art house. Dali appears in commercials, and even in such commercial activities he does not miss the opportunity for self-expression. TV viewers will long remember a chocolate commercial in which the artist takes a bite of a piece of a bar, after which his mustache twirls in euphoric delight and he exclaims that he has gone crazy from this chocolate.

His relationship with Gala is quite complicated. On the one hand, from the very beginning of their relationship, she promoted him, found buyers for his paintings, convinced him to paint works that were more understandable to the mass audience (the change in his painting at the turn of the 20-30s was striking), shared with him the luxury, and need. When there was no order for paintings, Gala forced her husband to develop product brands and costumes: her strong, decisive nature was very necessary for the weak-willed artist. Gala was putting things in order in his studio, patiently putting away canvases, paints, and souvenirs that Dali had scattered senselessly while looking for the right thing. On the other hand, she constantly had relationships on the side, in later years the spouses often quarreled, Dali’s love was rather a wild passion, and Gala’s love was not without calculation, with which she “married a genius.” In 1968, Dali bought a castle for Gala in the village of Pubol, in which she lived separately from her husband, and which he himself could visit only with the written permission of his wife. In 1981, Dali developed Parkinson's disease. Gala dies in 1982.

After the death of his wife, Dali experiences deep depression.

His paintings themselves are simplified, and for a long time they are dominated by the motif of grief (variations on the theme “Pietà”).

Parkinson's disease also prevents Dali from painting.

His most last works(“Cockfights”) are simple squiggles in which the bodies of the characters are guessed - the last attempts at self-expression of an unfortunate sick person.

It was difficult to care for a sick and distraught old man; he threw himself at the nurses with whatever came to hand, screamed, and bit.

After Gala's death, Salvador moved to Pubol, but in 1984 there was a fire in the castle. The paralyzed old man rang the bell unsuccessfully, trying to call for help. In the end, he overcame his weakness, fell out of bed and crawled towards the exit, but lost consciousness at the door. Dali was taken to the hospital with severe burns, but survived. Before this incident, Salvador may have planned to be buried next to Gala, and even prepared a place in the crypt in the castle. However, after the fire, he left the castle and moved to the theater-museum, where he remained until the end of his days.

The only intelligible phrase he uttered during the years of illness was “My friend Lorca”: the artist recalled the years of his happy, healthy youth, when he was friends with the poet.

The artist bequeathed to bury him so that people could walk on the grave, so Dali’s body is walled up in the floor in one of the rooms of the Dali Theater-Museum in the city of Figueres.

Most famous works Salvador Dali:

Self-Portrait with Raphael's Neck (1920-1921)
Portrait of Luis Buñuel (1924)
Flesh on the Stones (1926)
The Gizmo and the Hand (1927)
The Invisible Man (1929)
Enlightened Pleasures (1929)
Portrait of Paul Eluard (1929)
Riddles of Desire: "My Mother, My Mother, My Mother" (1929)
The Great Masturbator (1929)
William Tell (1930)
The Persistence of Memory (1931)
Partial hallucination. Six apparitions of Lenin on the piano (1931)
Paranoid Transformations of Gala's Face (1932)
Retrospective Bust of a Woman (1933)
The Mystery of William Tell (1933)
Mae West's face (used as a surreal room) (1934-1935)
Woman with a Head of Roses (1935)
Pliable structure with boiled beans: premonition civil war (1936)
Venus de Milo with boxes (1936)
Giraffe on Fire (1936-1937)
Anthropomorphic Locker (1936)
Telephone - Lobster (1936)
Sun Table (1936)
Metamorphoses of Narcissus (1936-1937)
The Riddle of Hitler (1937)
Swans Reflecting in Elephants (1937)
Appearance of a face and a bowl of fruit on the seashore (1938)
Slave Market with the Appearance of Voltaire's Invisible Bust (1938)
Poetry of America (1943)
A dream caused by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate a second before awakening (1944)
The Temptation of Saint Anthony (1946)
Nude Dali contemplating five ordered bodies turning into corpuscles from which Leda Leonardo is unexpectedly created, fertilized by the face of Gala (1950)
Raphael's Head Explosion (1951)
Christ of Saint John of the Cross (1951)
Galatea with Spheres (1952)
Crucifixion or Hypercubic Body (1954) Corpus hypercubus
Colossus of Rhodes (1954)
Sodom's Self-Pleasure of an Innocent Maiden (1954)
Last Supper (1955)
Our Lady of Guadalupe (1959)
Discovery of America through the sleep of Christopher Columbus (1958-1959)
Ecumenical Council (1960)
Portrait of Abraham Lincoln (1976).

We can say with confidence that people who have not heard of Dali simply do not exist. Some know him for his creativity, which reflected an entire era in the life of mankind, others for the shockingness with which he lived and painted.

All of Salvador Dali's works are worth millions these days, and there are always connoisseurs of creativity who are willing to pay the required amount for a canvas.

Dali and his childhood

The first thing that should be said about the great artist is that he is Spanish. By the way, his nationality Dali was incredibly proud and was a true patriot of his country. The family he was born into determined him in many ways life path, features of the position. The mother of the great creator was a deeply religious person, while his father was a convinced atheist. From childhood, Salvador Dali was immersed in an atmosphere of ambiguity and some ambivalence.

The author of paintings valued at millions was a rather weak student. A restless character, an uncontrollable desire to express his own opinion, and an overly active imagination did not allow him to achieve great success in his studies, but Dali showed himself as an artist quite early. Ramon Pichot was the first to notice his ability to draw, and directed the talent of the fourteen-year-old creator in the right direction. So, already at the age of fourteen, the young artist presented his works at an exhibition held in Figueres.

Youth

The works of Salvador Dali allowed him to enter the Madrid Academy of Fine Arts, but the young and even then outrageous artist did not stay there for long. Convinced of his exclusivity, he was soon expelled from the academy. Later, in 1926, Dali decided to continue his studies, but was expelled again, without the right to reinstatement.

Huge role in life young artist played an acquaintance with Luis Bonuel, who later became one of the most famous directors working in the genre of surrealism, and Federico, who went down in history as one of the most prominent poets in Spain.

Expelled from the Academy of Arts, the young artist did not hide his feelings, which allowed him in his youth to organize his own exhibition, which was visited by the great Pablo Picasso.

Muse of Salvador Dali

Of course, any creator needs a muse. For Dali, she was Gala Eluard, who was at

The moment of meeting the great surrealist married. A deep, all-consuming passion became the impetus for Gala to leave her husband and to active creativity for Salvador Dali himself. The beloved became for the surrealist not only an inspiration, but also a kind of manager. Thanks to her efforts, the works of Salvador Dali became known in London, New York and Barcelona. The artist's fame acquired completely different dimensions.

Avalanche of glory

As befits any creative person, the artist Dali constantly developed, strived forward, improved and transformed his technique. Of course, this led to significant changes in his life, the least of which was his exclusion from the list of surrealists. However, this did not affect his career in any way. Multi-thousand and then multi-million dollar exhibitions gained momentum. The realization of greatness came to the artist after the publication of his autobiography, the circulation of which sold out in record time.

The most famous works

A person who does not know a single work of Salvador Dali simply does not exist, but few can name at least a few works of the great artist. All over the world, the creations of the outrageous artist are preserved like the apple of an eye and are shown to millions of visitors to museums and exhibitions.

Salvador Dali almost always painted his most famous paintings in a certain outburst of feelings, as a result of a certain emotional outburst. For example, “Self-Portrait with Raphael’s Neck” was painted after the death of the artist’s mother, which became a real emotional trauma for Dali, which he repeatedly admitted.

"The Persistence of Memory" is one of the famous works Dali. This particular painting has several different names that coexist equally in art circles. In this case, the canvas depicts the place in which the artist lived and worked - Port Lligata. Many creativity researchers argue that the deserted shore in this picture reflects the inner emptiness of the creator himself. Salvador Dali painted “Time” (as this painting is also called) under the impression of the melting of Camembert cheese, from which, perhaps, the key images of the masterpiece emerged. The clock, which takes on completely unimaginable forms on the canvas, symbolizes human perception time and memory. The Persistence of Memory is definitely one of Salvador Dali's most profound and thoughtful works.

Variety of creativity

It's no secret that Salvador Dali's paintings are very different from each other. A certain period in an artist’s life is characterized by one or another manner, style, or certain direction. By the time when the creator publicly declared: “Surrealism is me!” - refers to works written from 1929 to 1934. Such paintings as “William Tell”, “The Evening Ghost”, “Bleeding Roses” and many others belong to this period.

The listed works differ significantly from the paintings of the period limited to 1914 and 1926, when Salvador Dali kept his work within certain limits. Early works The master of shocking is characterized by greater uniformity, measuredness, greater calm, and to some extent greater realism. Among such paintings are “Holiday in Figueres”, “Portrait of my father”, painted in 1920-1921, “View of Cadaqués from Mount Pani”.

Salvador Dali painted his most famous paintings after 1934. From that time on, the artist’s method became “paranoid-critical.” The creator worked in this vein until 1937. Among Dali's works at this time, the most famous were the paintings "Pliable Structure with Boiled Beans (Premonition of the Civil War)" and "Atavistic Remains of Rain"

The “paranoid-critical” period was followed by the so-called American period. It was at this time that Dali wrote his famous “Dream”, “Galarine” and “Dream inspired by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate, a moment before awakening.”

The works of Salvador Dali become increasingly tense over time. The American period is followed by a period of nuclear mysticism. The painting “Sodom Self-satisfaction of an Innocent Maiden” was painted precisely at this time. During the same period, in 1963, the “Ecumenical Council” was written.

Dali calms down

The Less Known Dali

Few people know, but Salvador Dali created his greatest works not only on canvas and wood and not only with the help of paints. The artist’s acquaintance with Luis Bonuel not only largely determined the further direction of Dali’s work, but was also reflected in the painting “Un Chien Andalusian,” which shocked the audience at the time. It was this film that became a kind of slap in the face of the bourgeoisie.

Soon, Dali and Bonuel parted ways, but their joint work went down in history.

Dali and shocking

Even the artist’s appearance suggests that this is a deeply creative, extraordinary nature, striving for something new and unknown.

Dali was never distinguished by his desire for a calm, traditional appearance. On the contrary, he was proud of his unusual antics and used them in every possible way to his advantage. For example, the artist wrote a book about his own mustache, calling it “antennas for the perception of art.”

In an effort to impress, Dali decided to spend one of his own meetings in a diving suit, as a result of which he almost suffocated.

Dali Salvador put his creativity above all else. The artist gained fame in the most unexpected, strangest ways imaginable. He bought dollar bills for $2, then sold a book about this action for a lot of money. The artist defended the right of his installations to exist by destroying them and bringing them to the police.

Salvador Dali left behind his most famous paintings in huge quantities. However, as well as memories of his strange, incomprehensible character and worldview.

Salvador Dali was born on May 11, 1904 in the Spanish city of Figueres (Catalonia). His real name is Salvador Jacinto Dali Domench Cusi Farres. His father called him Salvador, which means "Savior" in Spanish.

The first son who appeared in the family died, and the parents wanted the second to become their consolation, the savior of the ancient family. As Dali wrote in his shocking “Diary of a Genius”: “At the age of six I wanted to become a cook, at seven - Napoleon. Since then, my ambitions have been growing steadily. And today I long to become none other than Salvador Dali.” Most of all, Dali loved himself; they say about such people - Narcissus. He talked a lot about himself and published personal diaries. He was confident in his exclusivity.

The only thing that separates me from a crazy person is that I am normal.

Dali Salvador

Dali claimed that he was a genius already in his mother's womb. He adored his mother, because she carried the Savior, that is, him, and when his mother died, he could not recover from the blow. But not much time passed, and Dali, for advertising purposes, inscribed on one of own paintings, hanging at an exhibition in Paris, the blasphemous words: “I spit on my mother.” Salvador's father forbade his son to return home, but Dali didn't care: painting became his family and home.

Whether Dali is a genius or not, we will not judge; he was always assessed differently, but his talent was always evident. The excellent landscape that he painted at the age of 6 has been preserved, and at the age of 14 his personal exhibition No. 1 took place at the Municipal Theater of Figueres. At the age of 17, he entered the Royal Academy of Arts (another name is the Higher School of Fine Arts).

The teachers rated his drawings quite highly. The poet Rafael Alberti recalled: “I feel great love for Salvador Dali, the young man. His talent from God was supported by his amazing ability to work. Very often, locked in his room and working frantically, he forgot to go down to the dining room. Despite his rare talent, Salvador Dali I visited the Academy of Arts every day and learned to draw there until I was exhausted." But in my head young talent The thought has always been: how to become famous? How to stand out from a huge pool of talent? What is an unusual way to enter the art world and be remembered? Vanity is a powerful lever for a gifted person. It leads some to heroic deeds, and forces others to show best sides character and soul, Dali decided to take a completely different path: he decided to shock!

In 1926, Dali was expelled from the Academy for insolence, then he ended up on a short time to jail. Well, these scandals only benefit him! Having begun his independent path in painting, Dali began to struggle with common sense. In addition to the fact that he wrote his terrible fantasies non-stop, he behaved in a very original way. Here, for example, are some of his antics. Once in Rome, he appeared in the park of Princess Pallavicini, illuminated by torches, made of a cubic egg and made a speech in Latin.

In Madrid, Dali once gave a speech addressed to Picasso. Its goal is to invite Picasso to Spain. "Picasso is a Spaniard - and I am also a Spaniard! Picasso is a genius - and I am also a genius! Picasso is a communist - and neither am I!" The audience groaned. In New York, Dali appeared dressed in a golden space suit and inside an outlandish machine of his own invention - a transparent sphere. In Nice, Dali announced his intention to begin creating the film "The Car in the Flesh" with the brilliant actress Anna Magnani in the title role. Moreover, he claimed that in the plot the heroine falls in love with a car.

Salvador Dali was a genius of self-promotion, so his following tirade is completely clear: “Our time is the era of cretins, the era of consumption, and I would be the last idiot if I did not shake everything possible out of the cretins of this era.” ...Dali, who adored everything unconventional, everything “on the contrary,” was married to an amazing woman who was quite a match for him. Her real name is Elena Dmitrievna Dyakonova, although she went down in history under the name Gala. Gala means "celebration" in French. In fact, this was the case: for Dali, the Gala became a holiday of inspiration, the main model. They did not part for 53 years.

The marriage of Dali and Gala was quite strange, rather it was creative union. Dali could not live without his “half”: in everyday life he was a rather impractical, complex person, he was afraid of everything: riding in an elevator, and concluding contracts. Gala said: “In the morning, El Salvador makes mistakes, and in the afternoon I correct them, tearing up the agreements he frivolously signed.” They were an eternal pair - ice and fire.

News and publications regarding Dalí Salvador

Surrealism is the complete freedom of the human being and the right to dream. I am not a surrealist, I am surrealism, - S. Dali.

The formation of Dali's artistic skills took place in the era of early modernism, when his contemporaries largely represented such new artistic movements as expressionism and cubism.

In 1929, the young artist joined the surrealists. This year marked an important turning point in his life, as Salvador Dalí met Gala. She became his lover, wife, muse, model and main inspiration.

Since he was a brilliant draftsman and colorist, Dali drew a lot of inspiration from the old masters. But he used extravagant forms and inventive ways to compose a completely new, modern and innovative style of art. His paintings are distinguished by the use of double images, ironic scenes, optical illusions, dreamscapes and deep symbolism.

Throughout its entire creative life Dali was never limited to one direction. He worked with oil paints and watercolors, created drawings and sculptures, films and photographs. Even the variety of forms of execution was not alien to the artist, including the creation of jewelry and other works applied arts. As a screenwriter, Dali collaborated with the famous director Luis Buñuel, who directed the films “The Golden Age” and “Un Chien Andalou.” They displayed unreal scenes reminiscent of surrealist paintings come to life.

A prolific and extremely gifted master, he left a tremendous legacy for future generations of artists and art lovers. The Gala-Salvador Dali Foundation launched an online project Catalog Raisonné of Salvador Dalí for a complete scientific cataloging of the paintings created by Salvador Dalí between 1910 and 1983. The catalog consists of five sections, divided according to the timeline. It was conceived not only to provide comprehensive information about the artist’s work, but also to determine the authorship of the works, since Salvador Dali is one of the most counterfeited painters.

The fantastic talent, imagination and skill of the eccentric Salvador Dali are demonstrated by these 17 examples of his surrealist paintings.

1. “The Ghost of Wermeer of Delft, which can be used as a table,” 1934

This small painting with a rather long original title, it embodies Dali's admiration for the great 17th-century Flemish master, Johannes Vermeer. Vermeer's self-portrait was executed taking into account Dali's surreal vision.

2. “The Great Masturbator”, 1929

The painting depicts the internal struggle of feelings caused by attitudes towards sexual intercourse. This perception of the artist arose as an awakened childhood memory when he saw a book left by his father, open to a page with depictions of genitals affected by sexually transmitted diseases.

3. “Giraffe on Fire,” 1937

The artist completed this work before moving to the USA in 1940. Although the master claimed that the painting was apolitical, it, like many others, depicts the deep and disturbing feelings of anxiety and horror that Dalí must have experienced during the turbulent period between the two world wars. A certain part reflects it internal struggle in relation to the Spanish Civil War, and also refers to Freud's method of psychological analysis.

4. “The Face of War”, 1940

The agony of war was also reflected in Dali's work. He believed that his paintings should contain omens of war, which is what we see in the deadly head filled with skulls.

5. “Dream”, 1937

This depicts one of the surreal phenomena - a dream. This is a fragile, unstable reality in the world of the subconscious.

6. “Appearance of a face and a bowl of fruit on the seashore,” 1938

This fantastic painting is especially interesting because in it the author uses double images that give the image itself a multi-level meaning. Metamorphoses, surprising juxtapositions of objects and hidden elements characterize Dali's surrealist paintings.

7. “The Persistence of Memory,” 1931

This is perhaps the most recognizable surreal painting Salvador Dali, which embodies softness and hardness, symbolizes the relativity of space and time. It draws heavily on Einstein's theory of relativity, although Dali said the idea for the painting came from seeing Camembert cheese melted in the sun.

8. “The Three Sphinxes of Bikini Island,” 1947

This surreal image of Bikini Atoll evokes the memory of war. Three symbolic sphinxes occupy different planes: a human head, a split tree and a mushroom of a nuclear explosion, speaking of the horrors of war. The film explores the relationship between three subjects.

9. “Galatea with Spheres”, 1952

Dali's portrait of his wife is presented through an array of spherical shapes. Gala looks like a portrait of Madonna. The artist, inspired by science, elevated Galatea above the tangible world into the upper ethereal layers.

10. “Molten Clock,” 1954

Another image of an object measuring time has received an ethereal softness, which is not typical for hard pocket watches.

11. “My naked wife contemplating her own flesh, transformed into a staircase, three vertebrae of a column, the sky and architecture,” 1945

Gala from the back. This remarkable image became one of Dali's most eclectic works, combining classicism and surrealism, tranquility and strangeness.

12. "Soft Construction with Boiled Beans", 1936

The second title of the painting is “Premonition of Civil War.” It depicts the supposed horrors of the Spanish Civil War as the artist painted it six months before the conflict began. This was one of Salvador Dali's premonitions.

13. “The Birth of Liquid Desires,” 1931-32

We see one example of a paranoid-critical approach to art. Images of the father and possibly the mother are mixed with a grotesque, unreal image of a hermaphrodite in the middle. The picture is filled with symbolism.

14. “The Riddle of Desire: My Mother, My Mother, My Mother,” 1929

This work, created on Freudian principles, became an example of Dalí's relationship with his mother, whose distorted body appears in the Dalinian desert.

15. Untitled - Design of a fresco painting for Helena Rubinstein, 1942

The images were created for the interior decoration of the premises by order of Elena Rubinstein. This is a frankly surreal picture from the world of fantasy and dreams. The artist was inspired by classical mythology.

16. “Sodom self-satisfaction of an innocent maiden,” 1954

The painting depicts female figure and abstract background. The artist explores the issue of repressed sexuality, as follows from the title of the work and the phallic forms that often appear in Dali's work.

17. “Geopolitical Child Watching the Birth of the New Man,” 1943

The artist expressed his skeptical views by painting this picture while in the United States. The shape of the ball seems to be a symbolic incubator of the “new” man, the man of the “new world”.

Salvador Dali painted his first painting when he was 10 years old. It was a small impressionist landscape painted on a wooden board with oil paints. The talent of a genius was bursting forth. Dali sat all day long in a small room specially allocated to him, drawing pictures.

"...I knew what I wanted: to be given a laundry room under the roof of our house. And they gave it to me, allowing me to furnish the workshop to my liking. Of the two laundries, one, abandoned, served as a storage room. The servants cleared it of all the junk that it was overwhelming, and I took possession of it the very next day. It was so cramped that the cement tub occupied it almost entirely. Such proportions, as I already said, revived intrauterine joys in me. Inside the cement tub, I placed a chair on it instead. desktop, laid the board horizontally. When it was very hot, I undressed and opened the tap, filling the tub up to my waist. The water came from the tank next door, and was always warm from the sun."

Topic of the majority early works there were landscapes in the vicinity of Figueres and Cadaqués. Another outlet for Dali's imagination was the ruins of a Roman city near Ampurius. The love for his native places can be seen in many of Dali’s works. Already at the age of 14, it was impossible to doubt Dali’s ability to draw.
At the age of 14, his first solo exhibition took place at the Municipal Theater of Figueres. Young Dali persistently searches for his own style, but in the meantime he masters all the styles he liked: impressionism, cubism, pointillism. "He painted passionately and greedily, like a man possessed"- Salvador Dali will say about himself in the third person.
At the age of sixteen, Dali began to put his thoughts on paper. From that time on, painting and literature became equally parts of his creative life. In 1919, in his homemade publication "Studio", he published essays on Velazquez, Goya, El Greco, Michelangelo and Leonardo.
In 1921, at the age of 17, he became a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid.

"...Soon I began attending classes at the Academy of Fine Arts. And this took up all my time. I did not hang out on the streets, never went to the cinema, did not visit my fellow Residence members. I returned and locked myself in my room to continue work alone. On Sunday mornings I went to the Prado Museum and took catalogs of paintings from different schools. The journey from the Residence to the Academy and back cost one peseta. For many months, this was my only daily expense. Father, notified by the director and poet Marquina. whom he left me) about the fact that I was leading the life of a hermit, he wrote to me several times, advising me to travel around the area, go to the theater, take breaks from work, but everything was in vain. one peseta a day and not a centime more. My inner life was content with this, and all kinds of entertainment disgusted me.”

Around 1923, Dalí began his experiments with Cubism, often even locking himself in his room to paint. At that time, most of his colleagues tried their artistic abilities and strengths in impressionism, which Dali was interested in several years earlier. When Dali's comrades saw him working on cubist paintings, his authority immediately rose, and he became not just a participant, but one of the leaders of an influential group of young Spanish intellectuals, among whom were the future film director Luis Buñuel and the poet Federico García Lorca. Meeting them had a great influence on Dali's life.

In 1921, Dali's mother dies.
In 1926, 22-year-old Salvador Dali was expelled from the Academy. Having disagreed with the teachers' decision regarding one of the painting teachers, he stood up and left the hall, after which a brawl broke out in the hall. Of course, Dali was considered the instigator, although he had no idea what had happened, and for a short time he even went to prison.
But he soon returned to the academy.

"...My exile ended and I returned to Madrid, where the group was impatiently waiting for me. Without me, they argued, everything was “no glory to God.” Their imagination was hungry for my ideas. They gave me a standing ovation, ordered special ties, put aside seats in the theater, packed my suitcases, monitored my health, obeyed my every whim and, like a cavalry squadron, descended on Madrid in order to defeat at any cost the difficulties that prevented the realization of my most unimaginable fantasies.

Despite Dalí's outstanding ability in academic pursuits, his eccentric dress and demeanor eventually led to his expulsion for his refusal to take an oral examination. When he learned that his last question would be about Raphael, Dali suddenly declared: “...I don’t know less than three professors combined, and I refuse to answer them because I am better informed on the matter.”
But by that time, his first personal exhibition had already taken place in Barcelona, ​​a short trip to Paris, and an acquaintance with Picasso.

"...For the first time I stayed in Paris for only a week with my aunt and sister. There were three important visits: to Versailles, to the Grevin Museum and to Picasso. I was introduced to Picasso by the cubist artist Manuel Angelo Ortiz from Granada, to whom Lorca introduced me. I I came to Picasso on Rue La Boétie so excited and respectful, as if I were at a reception with the pope himself."

Dali's name and works attracted close attention in artistic circles. In Dali's paintings of that time one can notice the influence of Cubism ( "Young Women" , 1923).
In 1928 Dali became famous throughout the world. His picture

Another important event was Dali's decision to officially join the Parisian surrealist movement. With the support of his friend, the artist Joan Miró, he joined their ranks in 1929. Andre Breton treated this dressed-up dandy - a Spaniard who painted puzzles - with a fair amount of distrust.
In 1929, his first personal exhibition took place in Paris at Goeman's Gallery, after which he began his path to the pinnacle of fame. That same year, in January, he met his friend from the Academy of San Fernando, Luis Bunuel, who proposed to work together on a script for a film known as "Andalusian Dog"(Un Chien andalou). (“Andalusian puppies” was what Madrid youth called immigrants from the south of Spain. This nickname meant “slut,” “slut,” “klutz,” “mama’s boy”).
Now this film is a classic of surrealism. It was a short film designed to shock and touch the heart of the bourgeoisie and ridicule the excesses of the avant-garde. Among the most shocking images is the famous scene, which is known to have been invented by Dali, where a man's eye is cut in half with a blade. The decaying donkeys that appeared in other scenes were also part of Dali's contribution to the film.
After the first public screening of the film in October 1929 at the Théâtre des Ursulines in Paris, Buñuel and Dalí immediately became famous and celebrated.

Two years after Un Chien Andalou came The Golden Age. Critics accepted New film with delight. But then he became a bone of contention between Buñuel and Dali: each claimed that he did more for the film than the other. However, despite the controversy, their collaboration left a deep mark on the lives of both artists and sent Dali on the path of surrealism.
Despite his relatively short “official” connection with the surrealist movement and the Breton group, Dali initially and forever remains the artist who personifies surrealism.
But even among the surrealists, Salvador Dali turned out to be a real troublemaker of surrealist unrest; he advocated for surrealism without shores, declaring: “Surrealism is me!” and, dissatisfied with the principle of mental automatism proposed by Breton and based on a spontaneous creative act not controlled by the mind, the Spanish master defines the method he invented as “paranoid-critical activity.”
Dali's break with the surrealists was also facilitated by his delusional political statements. His admiration for Adolf Hitler and his monarchical inclinations ran counter to Breton's ideas. Dali's final break with the Breton group occurs in 1939.

The father, dissatisfied with his son’s relationship with Gala Eluard, forbade Dali to appear in his house, and thereby began a conflict between them. According to his subsequent stories, the artist, tormented by remorse, cut off all his hair and buried it in his beloved Cadaqués.

"... A few days later I received a letter from my father, who told me that I was finally expelled from the family... My first reaction to the letter was to cut off my hair. But I did it differently: I shaved my head, then buried it in the ground his hair, sacrificing it along with empty shells sea ​​urchins eaten at dinner."

With virtually no money, Dali and Gala moved to a small house in fishing village to Port Ligat, where they found refuge. There, in solitude, they spent many hours together, and Dali worked hard to earn money, because although he was already recognized by that time, he still had difficulty making ends meet. At that time, Dali began to become increasingly involved in surrealism, his work now differing significantly even from the abstract paintings he had painted in the early twenties. The main topic For many of his works it was now a confrontation with his father.
Image deserted shore firmly ingrained in Dali's consciousness at that time. The artist painted the deserted beach and rocks in Cadaques without any specific thematic focus. As he later claimed, the emptiness was filled for him when he saw a piece of Camembert cheese. The cheese became soft and began to melt on the plate. This sight evoked a certain image in the artist's subconscious, and he began to fill the landscape with melting clocks, thus creating one of the most powerful images of our time. Dali named the painting "The Persistence of Memory" .

"... Having decided to write the hours, I painted them soft. It was one evening, I was tired, I had a migraine - an extremely rare ailment for me. We were supposed to go to the cinema with friends, but at the last moment I decided to stay at home. Gala will go with them, and I will go to bed early. We ate a lot. delicious cheese, then I was left alone, sitting with my elbows on the table, thinking about how “super soft” processed cheese is. I got up and went into the workshop to take a look at my work as usual. The picture that I was going to paint represented the landscape of the outskirts of Port Lligat, the rocks, as if illuminated by dim evening light. In the foreground I sketched the chopped off trunk of a leafless olive tree. This landscape is the basis for a canvas with some idea, but what? I needed a wonderful image, but I couldn’t find it. I went to turn off the light, and when I came out, I literally “saw” the solution: two pairs of soft watches, one hanging pitifully from an olive branch. Despite the migraine, I prepared my palette and got to work. Two hours later, when Gala returned from the cinema, the film, which was to become one of the most famous, was completed. "

The Persistence of Memory was completed in 1931 and has become a symbol of the modern concept of the relativity of time. A year after the exhibition in the Paris gallery of Pierre Colet, the most famous picture Dali was purchased by the New York Museum of Modern Art.
Unable to visit his father's house in Cadaques due to his father's ban, Dalí built new house on the seashore, near Port Lligat.

Dali was now more convinced than ever that his goal was to learn to paint like the great masters of the Renaissance, and that with the help of their technique he could express the ideas that prompted him to paint. Thanks to meetings with Buñuel and numerous disputes with Lorca, who spent a lot of time with him in Cadaqués, new broad avenues of thinking opened up for Dali.
By 1934, Gala had already divorced her husband, and Dali could marry her. Amazing feature this married couple was that they felt and understood each other. Gala, in literally, lived the life of Dali, and he, in turn, deified her and admired her.
The outbreak of civil war prevented Dalí from returning to Spain in 1936. Dali's fear for the fate of his country and its people was reflected in his paintings painted during the war. Among them - tragic and terrifying "Premonition of Civil War" in 1936. Dali liked to emphasize that this painting was a test of the genius of his intuition, since it was completed 6 months before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936.

Between 1936 and 1937, Salvador Dali painted one of his most famous paintings, "The Metamorphosis of Narcissus". At the same time, his literary work entitled "Metamorphoses of Narcissus. Paranoid Theme" was published. By the way, earlier (1935) in his work “Conquest of the Irrational” Dali formulated the theory of the paranoid-critical method. In this method I used various shapes irrational associations, especially images that change depending on visual perception - so that, for example, a group of fighting soldiers may suddenly turn around woman's face. Distinctive feature Dali was that, no matter how bizarre his images were, they were always painted in an impeccable “academic” manner, with that photographic precision that most avant-garde artists considered old-fashioned.

Although Dali often expressed the idea that world events such as wars had little bearing on the world of art, he was greatly concerned about events in Spain. In 1938, as the war reached its climax, "Spain" was written.

During the Spanish Civil War, Dalí and Gala visited Italy to view the works of the Renaissance artists Dalí most admired. They also visited Sicily. This trip inspired the artist to write "African Impressions" in 1938.
In 1940, Dalí and Gala, just weeks before the Nazi invasion, left France on a transatlantic flight booked and paid for by Picasso. They stayed in the States for eight years. It was there that Salvador Dali wrote, probably one of his best books - a biography - "The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, Written by Himself." When this book was published in 1942, it immediately attracted severe criticism from the press and puritanical supporters.

During the years Gala and Dali spent in America, Dali made a fortune. At the same time, according to some critics, he paid for his reputation as an artist. Among the artistic intelligentsia, his extravagances were considered as antics in order to attract attention to himself and his work. And Dali's traditional style of painting was considered unsuitable for the twentieth century (at that time, artists were busy searching for a new language to express new ideas born in modern society).
During his stay in America, Dali worked as a jeweler, designer, photo reporter, illustrator, portrait painter, decorator, window decorator, made sets for the Hitchcock film The House of Dr. Edwards, distributed the Dali News newspaper (which, in particular, published Hieroglyphic Interpretation and psychoanalytic analysis of Salvador Dali's mustache). At the same time, he was writing the novel Hidden Faces. His performance is amazing.

Dali’s new vision of the world was born after the explosion over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Having been deeply impressed by the discoveries that led to the creation atomic bomb, the artist painted a whole series of paintings dedicated to the atom (for example, “Splitting the Atom,” 1947).
But nostalgia for their homeland takes its toll and in 1948 they return to Spain. While in Port Lligat, Dali turned to religious and fantastic themes in his creations.
The day before cold war, Dali develops the theory of “atomic art”, published in the same year in the “Mystical Manifesto”. Dali sets himself the goal of conveying to the viewer the idea of ​​the constancy of spiritual existence even after the disappearance of matter ( "Raphael's Exploding Head", 1951). The fragmented forms in this painting, as well as others painted during this period, are rooted in Dali's interest in nuclear physics. The head is similar to one of Raphael's Madonnas - images of classically clear and calm; at the same time it includes the dome of the Roman Pantheon with a stream of light falling inside. Both images are clearly distinguishable, despite the explosion, which breaks the entire structure into small fragments in the shape of a rhinoceros horn.
These studies culminated in "Galatea of ​​the Spheres", 1952, where Gala's head consists of rotating spheres.

The rhinoceros horn became a new symbol for Dali, most fully embodied by him in the painting “Rhinoceros-shaped Figure of Ilissa Phidias”, 1954. The painting dates back to the time that Dali called “the almost divine strict period of the rhinoceros horn,” arguing that the curve of this horn is the only one in nature is an absolutely exact logarithmic spiral, and therefore the only perfect form.
That same year he also painted "Young Virgin Self-Sodomized by Her Own Chastity." The painting depicted a naked woman being threatened by several rhinoceros horns.
Dali was fascinated by the new ideas of the theory of relativity. This prompted him to return to "The Persistence of Memory" 1931. Now in "Disintegration of memory persistence",1952-54, Dali depicted his soft clock below sea level, where stones like bricks stretch into perspective. The memory itself was disintegrating, since time no longer existed in the meaning that Dali gave it.

His international fame continued to grow, based both on his flamboyance and his sense of public taste, and on his incredible productivity in painting, graphic works and book illustrations, as well as as a designer in jewelry, clothing, stage costumes, and store interiors. He continued to amaze audiences with his extravagant appearances. For example, in Rome he appeared in the "Metaphysical Cube" (a simple white box covered with scientific icons). Most of the spectators who came to watch Dali's performances were simply attracted by the eccentric celebrity.
In 1959, Dalí and Gala truly established their home in Port Lligat. By that time, no one could doubt the genius of the great artist. His paintings were bought for huge sums of money by fans and lovers of luxury. Huge canvases painted by Dali in the 60s were valued at huge sums. Many millionaires considered it chic to have paintings by Salvador Dali in their collection.

In 1965, Dali met an art college student, a part-time model, nineteen-year-old Amanda Lear, a future pop star. A couple of weeks after their meeting in Paris, when Amanda was returning home to London, Dali solemnly announced: “Now we will always be together.” And over the next eight years they really hardly separated. In addition, their union was blessed by Gala herself. Dali's muse calmly gave her husband to caring hands young girl, knowing well that Dali would never leave her for anyone. intimate connection in traditional sense There were no words between him and Amanda. Dali could only look at her and enjoy. Amanda spent several seasons in a row every summer in Cadaques. Dali, lounging in a chair, enjoyed the beauty of his nymph. Dali was afraid of physical contacts, considering them too rough and mundane, but visual eroticism brought him real pleasure. He could watch Amanda bathe endlessly, so when they stayed in hotels, they often booked rooms with connecting baths.

Everything was going great, but when Amanda decided to step out of Dali’s shadow and pursue her own career, their love-and-friendly union collapsed. Dali did not forgive her for the success that befell her. Geniuses don't like it when something that belongs completely to them suddenly floats out of their hands. And someone else’s success is an unbearable torment for them. How is it possible that his “baby” (despite the fact that Amanda’s height is 176 cm) allowed herself to become independent and successful! They hardly communicated for a long time, seeing each other only in 1978 at Christmas in Paris.

The next day, Gala called Amanda and asked her to come to her urgently. When Amanda appeared at her place, she saw that an open Bible lay in front of Gala and right next to it stood the icon of the Kazan Mother of God, taken from Russia. “Swear to me on the Bible,” 84-year-old Gala strictly ordered, that when I am gone, you will marry Dali. I cannot die, leaving him unattended.” Amanda swore without hesitation. A year later she married Marquis Allen Philip Malagnac. Dali refused to accept the newlyweds, and Gala did not speak to her again until her death.

Beginning around 1970, Dali's health began to deteriorate. Although his creative energy did not decrease, thoughts about death and immortality began to bother him. He believed in the possibility of immortality, including the immortality of the body, and explored ways to preserve the body through freezing and DNA transplantation in order to be reborn.

More important, however, was the preservation of the works, which became his main project. He put all his energy into it. The artist came up with the idea of ​​building a museum for his works. He soon took on the task of rebuilding the theater in Figueres, his homeland, which was badly damaged during the Spanish Civil War. A giant geodesic dome was erected over the stage. The auditorium was cleared and divided into sections in which his works of different genres could be displayed, including Mae West's bedroom and large paintings such as The Hallucinogenic Bullfighter. Dali himself painted the entrance foyer, depicting himself and Gala panning for gold in Figueres, with their feet hanging from the ceiling. The salon was named the Palace of the Winds, after the poem of the same name, which tells the legend of the east wind, whose love married and lives in the west, so whenever he approaches her, he is forced to turn, while his tears fall to the ground. This legend really pleased Dali, the great mystic, who dedicated another part of his museum to erotica. As he often liked to emphasize, erotica differs from pornography in that the former brings happiness to everyone, while the latter only brings misfortune.
The Dalí Theater and Museum had many other works and other trinkets on display. The salon opened in September 1974 and looked less like a museum and more like a bazaar. There, among other things, were the results of Dali's experiments with holography, from which he hoped to create global three-dimensional images. (His holograms were first exhibited at the Knoedler Gallery in New York in 1972. He stopped experimenting in 1975.) In addition, the Dali Theater Museum displays double spectroscopic paintings of a nude Gala against a background painting by Claude Laurent and other art objects. created by Dali. Read more about the Theater-Museum.

In 1968-1970, the painting “The Hallucinogenic Toreador” was created - a masterpiece of metamorphism. The artist himself called this huge canvas “the whole of Dali in one picture,” since it represents a whole anthology of his images. At the top, the entire scene is dominated by the spirited head of Gala, in the lower right corner stands six-year-old Dali, dressed as a sailor (as he portrayed himself in The Phantom of Sexual Attraction in 1932). In addition to many images from earlier works, the painting contains a series of Venuses de Milo, gradually turning and simultaneously changing gender. The bullfighter himself is not easy to see - until we realize that the naked torso of the second Venus from the right can be perceived as part of his face (the right breast corresponds to the nose, the shadow on the stomach to the mouth), and the green shadow on her drapery as a tie. To the left, a sequined bullfighter's jacket shimmers, merging with the rocks in which the head of a dying bull can be discerned.

Dali's popularity grew. The demand for his work became crazy. Book publishers, magazines, fashion houses and theater directors competed for it. He has already created illustrations for many masterpieces of world literature, such as the Bible, " The Divine Comedy"Dante," Lost heaven" Milton, "God and Monotheism" by Freud, "The Art of Love" by Ovid. He published books dedicated to himself and his art, in which he unrestrainedly praises his talent ("The Diary of a Genius", "Dali by Dali", "Dali's Golden Book" , "The Secret Life of Salvador Dali") He was always distinguished by his bizarre demeanor, constantly changing his extravagant suits and mustache style.

The cult of Dali, the abundance of his works in different genres and styles have led to the emergence of numerous fakes, which has caused great problems in the global art market. Dalí himself was implicated in a scandal in 1960 when he signed many blank sheets of paper intended for making impressions from lithographic stones kept by dealers in Paris. An accusation was made of illegal use of these blank sheets. However, Dalí remained unperturbed and in the 1970s continued his erratic and active life, as always, continuing to search for new flexible ways to explore their amazing world of art.

At the end of the 60s, the relationship between Dali and Gala began to fade. And at Gala’s request, Dali was forced to buy her his own castle, where she spent a lot of time in the company of young people. The rest of their life together was smoldering firebrands that had once been a bright fire of passion... Gala was already about 70 years old, but the more she aged, the more she wanted love. “Salvador doesn’t care, each of us has our own life”“,” she convinced her husband’s friends, dragging them into bed. "I allow Gala to have as many lovers as she wants- said Dali. - I even encourage her because it excites me.". Gala's young lovers robbed her mercilessly. She gave them Dali paintings, bought them houses, studios, cars. And Dali was saved from loneliness by his favorites, young beautiful women, from whom he needed nothing but their beauty. In public, he always pretended that they were lovers. But he knew that it was all just a game. The woman of his soul was only Gala.

Throughout her life with Dali, Gala played the role of an eminence grise, preferring to remain in the background. Some considered her to be the driving force behind Dali, others - a witch weaving intrigues...Gala managed her husband's ever-growing wealth with efficient efficiency. It was she who closely followed private transactions for the purchase of his paintings. She was needed physically and mentally, so when Gala died in June 1982, the artist suffered a heavy loss. Among the works created by Dalí in the weeks before her death is Three Famous Mysteries of the Gala, 1982.

Dali did not participate in the funeral. According to eyewitnesses, he entered the crypt only a few hours later. "Look, I'm not crying", is all he said. After Gala's death, Dali's life became gray, all his madness and surreal fun were gone forever. What Dali lost with Gala’s departure was known only to him. Alone, he wandered around the rooms of their house, muttering incoherent phrases about happiness and how beautiful Gala was. He did not draw anything, but only sat for hours in the dining room, where all the shutters were closed.

After her death, his health began to deteriorate sharply. Doctors suspected Dali had Parkinson's disease. This disease once became fatal for his father. Dali almost stopped appearing in society. Despite this, his popularity grew. Among the awards that rained down on Dali as if from a cornucopia was membership in the Academy of Fine Arts of France. Spain gave him the highest honor by awarding him the Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic, given to him by King Juan Carlos. Dalí was declared Marquis de Pubol in 1982. Despite all this, Dali was unhappy and felt bad. He threw himself into his work. All his life he admired Italian artists Renaissance, so he began to paint paintings inspired by the heads of Giuliano de' Medici, Moses and Adam (located in the Sistine Chapel) by Michelangelo and his "Descent from the Cross" in St. Peter's Church in Rome.

The artist spent the last years of his life in all alone in the Gala Castle in Pubol, where Dalí moved after her death, and later in his room at the Dalí Theater-Museum.
Dali completed his last work, “Swallowtail,” in 1983. This is a simple calligraphic composition on a white sheet of paper, inspired by catastrophe theory.

By the end of 1983, his spirits seemed to have lifted somewhat. He began to sometimes walk in the garden and began to paint pictures. But this did not last long, alas. Old age took precedence over a brilliant mind. On August 30, 1984, a fire occurred in Dali's house. The burns on the artist's body covered 18% of the skin. After this, his health deteriorated further.

By February 1985, Dali’s health had improved somewhat and he was able to give an interview to the largest Spanish newspaper Pais. But in November 1988, Dali was admitted to the clinic with a diagnosis of heart failure. Salvador Dali died on January 23, 1989 at the age of 84.

He bequeathed to bury himself not next to his surreal Madonna, in the tomb of Pubol, and in the city where he was born, in Figueres. The embalmed body of Salvador Dali, dressed in a white tunic, was buried in the Figueres Theater-Museum, under a geodesic dome. Thousands of people came to say goodbye to the great genius. Salvador Dali was buried in the center of his museum. He left his fortune and his works to Spain.

Report of the artist’s death in the Soviet press:
"Salvador Dali, the world-famous Spanish artist, has died. He died today in a hospital in the Spanish city of Figueres at the age of 85 after a long illness. Dali was the largest representative of surrealism - an avant-garde movement in the artistic culture of the twentieth century, which was especially popular in the West in the 30s years. Salvador Dali was a member of the Spanish and French academies of arts. He is the author of many books and film scripts. Exhibitions of Dali’s works were held in many countries of the world, including recently in the Soviet Union.

"For fifty years now I have been entertaining humanity", Salvador Dali once wrote in his biography. It entertains to this day and will continue to entertain unless humanity disappears and painting perishes under technical progress.