Salvador Dali

1. TOP SECRET Salvador Dali Profile By Sophie Hatwell

2. Full Name: Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dali I Domenech Born: May 11, 1904, Spain Died: Jan 23, 1989 (Aged 84) Info: Salvador Dali was a surrealist artist (surrealism is an art movement which started in the 1920’s. It is characterized by fantastic imagery). Salvador Dali started drawing at the age of twelve when on a Summer holiday. In 1917 (Salvador aged Thirteen), his father organized an exhibition of his charcoal drawings in their family home. In 1919, at the age of Fifteen, Salvador had his first public exhibition. 1929 was the year Dali married Gala Eluard in Paris. Dali was concided the leader of the surrealist movement. As the war approached, Dali was “expelled” from the surrealist group because of his political views. In this time, Dali was moving into new types of painting. Salvador Dali was never just a surrealist painter, but his piece ‘The Persistence of Memory’ is still one of his most famous paintings.

3. The Persistence of MemoryThis painting has a harsh, dark background. The horse like thing and the watch in the fore ground catch my eye first. The slowly melting clocks are actually ‘Clocks and Cheese’ says Dali. The ants hungrily swarming over the clock in the left hand corner seen strange, and they seem to be on a table. On that table is an out-of-place tree that looks strangely dead. The remotely standing cliffs oppose another question. In between the background and foreground, on the left hand side, there is a table. To me, this table looks a lot like a ping-pong table. I wonder why Dali weirdly painted a ping-pong table...

4. Meditative RoseThis is one of Salvador Dali’s earlier painting. The rose in the middle of this painting obviously catches my eye first; the deep colour with the classic shape. In the background, you can see a deserted looking city, and a slowly setting sun. The small cloud and dry land suggest it doesn’t rain often. The water droplet gradually falling off the rose makes it look very realistic. Dali has put the rose right in the middle of a bright, blue sky. The rose looks like it’s drifting motionlessly.

5. The Temptation of St. AnthonyThis painting features Dali’s trademark animal – the long legged elephants walking awkwardly in a line. The horse in the foreground seems to have short legs at the front and long at the back. There is also a man confidently holding a cross pointed at them. In the background, the black clouds are moving picturesquely. The ground that the animals are calmly walking on is very dry. There also is an elephant in the background, slowly walking alone. This painting show Saint Anthony with the ‘demons’, a scene from “The Demons In The Cave”.