The Melting Watch--The Official Salvador Dali Discussion Thread

In case you are wondering, the soft or "melting" watches often appeared in Dali's paintings. Hence the strange title of this thread (Dali would be proud).

I have an odd fascination with the art of Salvador Dali. Nowhere else have I ever seen paintings with such bizarre imagery and enigmatic symbolism. Never before have I seen paintings that so closely mirrored dreams. I would like to discuss Dali's many crazy works of art with other art enthusiasts out there, and see what they make of it all.

"Le surrealisme, c'est moi!" --Dali

 

I think he had a fear of sexuality. I remember a book from forever ago talking about it . . .

Ah, didn't he dress oddly about as well?

Hmm, can't remember much . . . I do like his last supper version, I remember . . . And a virgin mary image. Hee hee, I'm inspired to look back into him . . .

Editey: (I'll post more intelligently later, I promise!)

 

I admire Dali's work very much. On the Looney Tunes DVD box set that was just released there is a Porky Pig cartoon called "Dough for the do-do" that is loaded with Dali-inspired images.

 

I used to work in a bar with about 2 dozen Dali pictures on the wall, and I grew to love them. This is my favourite one

[image=http://www.allposters.com/images/41/030_Sa053dal.jpg]

 

I always found that woman in Outskirts of a paranoiac critical town to be really creepy. *shudders*

 

The Persistence of Memory is the Dali with the melting watches. Dali is a fascinating character and I highly recommend his autobiography.

He's one of the first artists to truly market his bizarre nature. In his book, he discusses at length how he hates vegetables, how he through a little girl off a bridge when he was six years old or so, how he masturbates in front of a mirror, etc. The man wasn't as bizarre as he purported to be, but he was strange.

As for a fear of sexuality, well, not really. He is one of the most famous masturbators in history and I think you can't divorce that from his work. Huge hands are a recurring theme and occasionally people actually, hrrmmm, doing the deed show up. He did marry, but after he was in his thirties and he seemed to prefer his own company, from what he writes.

Strange, yes, indeedy, but a lot of it was show.

 

Type "Dali," "Gala," and "fear" into a search engine . . . Is it just a widespread myth?

 

As for his fear, it's true. It's due to the fact that when he was a boy he found and read a very graphic book on STDs and it scared him to death.

"Dream caused by the flight of a bee around a pomegranate a second before waking." That's the title of the pic you stuck up there Halibut, and I'm proud to say I remember it all! What really interests me about the picture is that elephant with the extra long legs. When I first saw the picture I didn't notice it, then when I finally did it startled me. I wonder if there's suppose to have some sort of significance or if it's just one of Dali's quirky details. Animals with grotesquely long legs are featured in a few other of his paintings too.

 

Up!

 

I think it's a feature. "The temptation of St Anthony" has the same thing

[image=http://picassomoon.com/products/posters/p3199.jpg]

In the "pomegranete" one, I just love the tigers as a symbol of a bee. Before I knew the title, I thought the painting was drugs related with a needle, but obviously not!