Salvador Dali

Life: 1904 – 1989 (2)

Country: Spain

Style(s): Cubism, Futurism, Metaphysical painting, Surrealism (2)

Works:

            Metamorphosis of Hitler's Face into a Moonlit Landscape with Accompaniment (1958)

            The Persistence of Memory (1931)

Quote: "I don't do drugs. I am drugs." (5)

Fun Fact:

             In 1969, Dali designed the distinctive logo wrapper for the delicious lollipops from the Chupa Chups candy company in Barcelona, Spain (1).

            You knock on the door to Dali’s office. You enter. Dali takes one look at your face and knows that something is wrong.

            “What’s up Braga?”

            “It’s Chucky,” you burst out. “Someone kidnapped Chucky and they left a ransom note and they want two million dollars! But I can’t pay!  But the note said something about me having fourteen days to find the kidnapper and that it has something to do with time and so I thought that since you painted all those clocks…”

you know that I took over automatism and then transformed it into a more positive method called ‘critical paranoia’? What I do is suspend control of reason and will in order to create. It is sort of like receding within your own mind (2). My watches or clocks or whatever you call them are simply what I see in my dream-like states.”

            “I don’t get it. How can any of that help me find Chucky? The note said that it has something to do with bending time—and your clocks bend time, to be literal. All I really want is to find Chucky. Please, Dali, you seem to understand these figurative meanings, please tell me what it means and where to find him.”

            “I think,” Dali said, hesitating, “that it has something to do with—… I can’t say. I’m sorry Braga but there are things about artists that you don’t know. The way we influence each other, the way we communicate. It is too complicated to explain. Let me just say that whoever left that note meant for you to come to me, and he also meant for you to trace him back through me. This might not make sense yet.

            Here, I’ll give you the names of a few people who might be able to help you. I assume you have heard of Picasso, the famous Spanish Cubist painter? And my speech, “Picasso and I,” which I gave at the Maria Guerrero Theater in Madrid in 1951? You’ve heard of that too, I hope? Well, in case you haven’t, I said this about Picasso, and I quote ‘Picasso is Spanish; so am I. Picasso is a genius; So am I. Picasso is about 74; I’m about 48. Picasso is known in every country in the world; so am I. Picasso is a communist; nor am I.’(6).  As you can see, Picasso and I have some strong connections as well as some quite strong differences. If you are in a hurry and do not feel that you can linger here any longer, go ask Picasso about Chucky.”

             “However, if you’d rather stick around for a while I will try to think of someone else who might be able to help you. Hmmmm…the man who comes to mind is Giorgio de Chirico. He is an Italian artist trained in the Metaphysical School, and from 1924 to 1930, he gave enormous impetus to the surrealist movement and influenced such surrealists as Yves Tanguy and myself (3 & 4). If you think he would be the best person to ask about Chucky, you can go look for him at this address…”

          “But I don’t understand!” you wail, “What are you talking about? Why would I want to go talk to these artists that I don’t know?”

            “Trust me,” Dali reassures you, “If you really want Chucky back, this is the way to do it. Here, one more person you can go to is André Breton. He’s a Surrealist I met in Paris in 1929 (7) who might be able to help you.”