Journey Into Surrealism

Born in 1904, Dalí spent his summers on Spain’s northeast coast. He attended art school in Madrid and became an excellent draftsman. In the late 1920s, Dalí met other Surrealist poets, writers, and painters. He became obsessed with dreams and slept with a canvas next to his bed so he could record his dreams as soon as he woke up.

In 1931, Dalí completed The Persistence of Memory, above. The artist works in a highly realistic style, yet the painting’s eerie subjects—melting clocks, swarming ants, and a distorted face that many believe is a self-portrait—contrast that realism. Today, experts believe that the landscape in the background is based on the coastal region where Dalí spent much of his youth.

In the early 1950s, Dalí revisited this dreamscape in his The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, cover. Geometric forms float across the fractured scene, and parts of the composition appear to be underwater. How do these details contribute to the dreamlike world Dalí creates?

Dalí was born in 1904. He grew up in Spain. He attended art school and became an expert at drawing. In the 1920s, Dalí met other Surrealist artists. Like him, they were fascinated by dreams. Dalí slept with a canvas next to his bed so he could sketch his dreams as soon as he woke up.

In 1931, Dalí finished his painting The Persistence of Memory, above. The work’s style is realistic. But the subjects are dreamlike. Melting clocks, a swarm of ants, and a strange figure contrast the realistic style.

In the early 1950s, Dalí painted The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory, cover. He shows the shapes from his earlier painting, on the left, breaking apart. Parts of the scene look like they’re underwater. How would you describe the strange world Dalí creates?

Dalí’s 1937 Swans Reflecting Elephants, above, includes a complex visual illusion. Swans float on a still blue lake as a tangle of menacing trees loom behind them. The reflection seamlessly transforms into a group of elephants. The swans’ necks and wings form the elephants’ trunks and ears, and the trees become their legs. By introducing brainteasers like this and by using other unsettling visual techniques, Dalí invites the viewer to look twice and ask questions. Is there a relationship between swans and elephants?

Dalí painted Swans Reflecting Elephants, above, in 1937. He includes a clever visual illusion, or visual trick. Swans float on a lake. A tangle of trees loom behind them. But the reflection in the water looks like a group of elephants! The swans’ necks and wings become the elephants’ trunks and ears. The trees become their legs. Dalí uses illusions like this to make the viewer ask questions. What do you think swans and elephants have in common?

Surrealist art isn’t limited to painting. In fact, Dalí experimented with drawing, printmaking, sculpture, fashion, film, and advertising. Lobster Telephone, below, features two seemingly unrelated objects juxtaposed, or paired together, to create an unexpected arrangement. This 1936 sculptural object had personal meaning for Dalí, who claimed to have strong emotional associations with both telephones and lobsters. In his strange manner, he once said: “I do not understand why, when I ask for a grilled lobster in a restaurant, I am never served a cooked telephone.”

How does Dalí invite viewers to make connections between unrelated objects in each of the works shown here? How does this relate to the subconscious?

Surrealist artists work in other mediums too. For example, Dalí experimented with sculpture. His 1936 Lobster Telephone, above, shows two objects that aren’t usually seen together: a lobster and a telephone. He juxtaposes them, or pairs them together, to create something unexpected. How does Dalí connect unrelated objects in each of the works shown here?