Salvador Dali
Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Apple's THINK DIFFERENT advertising campaign. 1997-2002. Designed by TBWA/Chiat?Day ad agency. Text by Craig Tanimoto. Narrated by Richard Dreyfus and Steve Jobs. 1997.
Salvador Dalí. Explosion of Mystical Faith in the Midst of a Cathedral. 1959 - 1974.
Salvador Dali wasn’t a surrealist. Picasso wasn’t a Cubist. These iconic artists of the 20th century were explorers.
In March 2019 I visited the Dalí Theater Museum in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain. There are some paintings of Dalí I have liked for a long time. You know, the melting clock one: The Persistence of Memory. Or, a close up of Jesus Christ hanging on the cross in a darkened sky: Christ of Saint John of the Cross. When I was in my mid 20s I bought a Bible illustrated by Dalí’. It is the family Bible in our house today. I have to admit, though, that there are many of Dalí’s works that I just thought were plain weird.
When we visited Catalonia last Spring, we traveled to Figueres just to see the museum Dalí designed.I must confess, I was worried this would be a wasted trip. I needn’t have worried. We spent three hours discovering art in all its forms. We climbed a ladder to see an art installation that revealed a room that transformed into the face of Mae West. We stood on a viewing platform to view a corner of the vaulted courtyard where we found an abstract painting that metamorphosed into a face of Abraham Lincoln. Nothing in that building was boring or plebeian. Some art was strange, others were breathtakingly beautiful. The walk through the museum was an experience unlike one I have ever had before.
Salvador Dalí. Galatea of the Speres. 1952.
Dalí was the Marco Polo of art. He painted, sculpted, and made etchings and murals. He designed buildings and jewelry. He experimented with realism, cubism, surrealism, photography and film. He incorporated Renaissance painting into his art. Dalí unapologetically copied the art from centuries of other artists. He adopted ideas from Catholicism and modern science.
My favorite piece in the museum was Dalí’s Explosion of Mystical Faith in the Midst of a Cathedral. We saw a large copy of the painting in one room and then went in search to find the original. As if we were in an Escape Room, we searched throughout the museum for clues. I pride myself in being a consummate mystery solver after years of reading Louise Penny and Tony Hillerman, and watching hours of British mystery series. We finally found the original in the courtyard. I say “found,” but we never saw the painting directly. We never saw this painting of 7.5 feet x 5.5 feet. Hidden behind another installation, the painting can only be seen as a reflection in a mirror.
Dalí worked on this painting in his studio for 15 years and it is one of Dalí’s least known works. And, yet, the painting brought tears to my eyes.
Salvador Dali. Manifeste mystique (Mystic Manifesto). 1951.
Dalí copied the face of the ascending saint from Raphael’s Saint Catherine of Alexandria, c. 1507. What stands out above all is the central explosion of white and yellow light. An energy bursts and shatters off the canvas. I felt myself standing amongst the figures scattered at the bottom of the canvas. Hoping to ascend.
Dalí said he was emotionally affected by the tragedy of the atom bombs dropped in 1945. After the war, he accused his fellow artists that their art' “comes so directly from the tube of their biology that they don’t even mix in even a bit of their heart or soul.”
Front page: Salvador Dalí, The Persistence of Memory. 1931. MOMA, New York City.
Words: Maureen Fitzmahan
Salvador Dalí. Explosion of Mystical Faith in the Midst of a Cathedral. 1959 - 1974.
Salvador Dalí. Galatea of the Speres. 1952.
Salvador Dali. Manifeste mystique (Mystic Manifesto). 1951.