This
essay obtianed a grade 1 from the S.Q.A. It included illustrations
he collected.
Salvador Dali.
"The persistence ofMemory & RaphaelequeHead BreakingDavid
Bathgate
Art essay – Salvador Dali
My essay is on a surrealist artist called Salvador
Dali. Salvador Dali was surrealist artist this is an artist whose
paintings at first glance can seem very realistic but what is
happening in the painting is illogical. Dali greatly admired
a seventeenth century painter called Velazquez, Dali included
ideas from this artist in many of his own paintings like the “Fried
eggs on a plate without the plate”.
The main paintings I will include in my essay
are “The persistence of memory” and “Raphaelesque
Head Breaking”. The first painting “The Persistence
of Memory” is a beach scene. In the background of the painting
is a large rock this is said to be Cape Creus a memory from Dali’s
home. In the forefront of the picture there are four melting
watches. One of these watches is bent around a branch which has
arisen from a wooden box. One watch is melted across the edge
of the box and another watch is on the box but you can only see
the brass back of the watch, this watch is covered in ants that
look as if they are trying to eat the watch. Also in the forefront
of the picture is a horse that looks like it has died because
of the heat it’s mouth is open as if it was gasping for
water. The fourth watch is melted around the back of the horse
this creates what looks like a saddle. In the background there
is a platform which could be a pier or harbour. I like this painting
because the landscape view, watches and the rocks in the background
are very realistic looking but what is happening in the painting
is irrational. The melting watches are painted in the highest
detail but are melting this creates a sense of heat. I think
this painting creates a great sense of heat and also shows a long
period of time because it shows the watches melting as if time
is passing and then compares this by the ants trying to eat the
other watch showing the watches either melt or are eaten away
in time. The watches were inspired by a cheese Dali watched as
it melted in the heat and it is said that his wife Gala was out
at a cinema and this could have gave him the idea for the watches
as he waited on her coming home. The reason I like this painting
it because of the realistic detail painted in the painting e.g.
melting watches, but what is happening to these objects is strange.
The shading in the painting is darker towards
the forefront of the painting and gradually gets lighter as it
pulls into the background of the painting as you see a beach scene.
The painting also gives a feeling of dryness or a draught, this
is mainly because the horse appears to be dead. The horse’s
mouth is open and it looks as if it has died because of the heat,
it has dehydrated. Many of Dali’s paintings are inspired
by his home surroundings like Cape Creus.
Raphaelesque head Breaking
The painting Raphaelesque Head Breaking is a painting
of a Madonna which is exploding into the form of rhinoceros horns.
You can also see the inside of the head as if the face was transparent.
The inside of the head is like a patterned ceiling which circulates
round the head creating a dome shape. On the top of the head
(scalp), there is a circular hole which let’s a ray of light
shine through. The Madonna appears to be smiling at first glance,
but once you take a closer look you can see the smile seems to
be quite sad and the face is looking down that also creates a
sad look. At first glance the painting looks peaceful but then
you notice the destruction, the way the face is breaking. The
Painting is the sort of image you would see in a dream or while
your subconscious like this painting because the face of the woman
at first glance is very realistic, but is also illogical because
it shows the face pulling apart or breaking. In the background
of the painting it looks like the face is on a map with water
reflecting of the side of the face and the shape of countries
with parts of the painting breaking off and flying into the background.
Like “The persistence of Memory” both paintings show
realistic objects, but what is happening to these objects is irrational.
The Face of War
The painting “The Face of War” was
painted during the Spanish civil war. The painting shows a face
in a desert, the face has no body but is just sitting on the sand.
The face has no eyes but there is a large skull inside where the
eye should be and inside this skull are three other skulls that
are all smaller. Two of these skulls are in the two eye sockets
and the other skull is in the larger skulls mouth. This image
is the same for the largest skulls other eye. In the mouth of
the face is a skull and inside this are even smaller skulls.
The skulls create a scary look to the painting. I think the skulls
represent people who died in this war and how awful the war was.
Around the edges of the head are snakes that look like a Medusa
image. The face has a scared look about it because its eyebrows
appear to be raised giving the look that the eyes would be wide
open in fear. The mouth also has a wide-open look and is out
of shape, perhaps suggesting the mouth was trembling. On the
right of the painting is a dark shaded area that has a hand print,
but the print looks like it has been made from a bone hand. I
think this is a scary looking painting and has look into what
Dali and many other people thought about war. Again the painting
of the face is realistically painted, but the skulls are not as
realistically done. You can tell the painting was painted in
great detail because there are no visible brush strokes. I think
I like this painting because in a way it seems to put forward
peoples opinions about the fear of war. The painting is realistically
painted, but again, shows the irrational look e.g. the skulls
in the head.
Comparing Dali’s work with Picasso’s
I like Dali’s work because his paintings
show very realistic painted objects with an irrational thing happening
to them, e.g. melting watches., All of Dali’s paintings
I looked at were painted in great detail I could tell this because
there were no visible brush strokes this also shows a lot of time
was spent on the painting. Dali’s work compares to Picasso’s
because Picasso’s paintings are usually portraits of strange
faces. The faces are strange because they are painted in strange
formations like the eyes would be were the mouth should be etc.,
I think Picasso’s paintings aren’t painted in such
detail because you can see many of the brush strokes on his work.
Also because Picasso painted in these strange formations of the
face it takes the realistic look away. I think Dali’s work
is good because of the high attention to detail and realism and
still be able to make the painting look illogical. Dali’s
work is also very clever because some of the parts of his paintings
are used to make other objects that you wouldn’t notice
at first glance like the painting’s “The hallucinogenic
Toreador” where you would not notice the bull in the painting
at first glance as it creates into a background effect.
The Face of War
This
“horrors of war” painting is a rather more conventional
image
than
the ones Dali produced when civil war was raging in Spain,
but it
has some impact. The skull, with its eyes and mouth
filled
with other skulls, has a certain Goya-esque fantasy,
reminiscent
of the Spanish painter’s etchings made during
the Peninsular
War.
