Ep.43: Salvador Dali – Top 7 Paintings

August 13, 2023 Peter Jans

Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.

Today's episode will be on one of my favourite artists, along with E.C. Escher, and that is Salvador Dali. A man who you would assume was on many drugs, however, didn’t take drugs but professed to be drugs! Makes sense!

His art was no doubt surreal in terms of imagination but also coupled with technical genius and a brilliant marketing mind.

Today’s mnemonic is on his top 7 paintings.

So, with no further ado, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salvador_Dali_NYWTS.jpg

Wikipedia Summary

Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol[a] gcYC (11 May 1904 – 23 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí (/ˈdɑːli, dɑːˈliː/ DAH-lee, dah-LEE,[1] Catalan: [səlβəˈðo ðəˈli], Spanish: [salβaˈðoɾ ðaˈli]),[b] was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in his work.

Born in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain, Dalí received his formal education in fine arts in Madrid. Influenced by Impressionism and the Renaissance masters from a young age he became increasingly attracted to Cubism and avant-garde movements.[2] He moved closer to Surrealism in the late 1920s and joined the Surrealist group in 1929, soon becoming one of its leading exponents. His best-known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in August 1931, and is one of the most famous Surrealist paintings. Dalí lived in France throughout the Spanish Civil War (1936 to 1939) before leaving for the United States in 1940 where he achieved commercial success. He returned to Spain in 1948 where he announced his return to the Catholic faith and developed his "nuclear mysticism" style, based on his interest in classicism, mysticism, and recent scientific developments.[3]

Dalí's artistic repertoire included painting, graphic arts, film, sculpture, design and photography, at times in collaboration with other artists. He also wrote fiction, poetry, autobiography, essays and criticism. Major themes in his work include dreams, the subconscious, sexuality, religion, science and his closest personal relationships. To the dismay of those who held his work in high regard, and to the irritation of his critics, his eccentric and ostentatious public behavior often drew more attention than his artwork.[4][5] His public support for the Francoist regime, his commercial activities and the quality and authenticity of some of his late works have also been controversial.[6] His life and work were an important influence on other Surrealists, pop art and contemporary artists such as Jeff Koons and Damien Hirst.[7][8]

There are two major museums devoted to Salvador Dalí's work: the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, Spain, and the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Dal%C3%AD]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dali_Salvador_ispan_rassomi.jpg

Mnemonic

Salvador Dali – Top 7 Paintings Mnemonic – THe MuD PiGS

(Picture Salvador Dali wrestling two pigs in the mud)

1. The Temptation of Saint Anthony

2. The Hallucinogenic Toreador

3. Metamorphosis of Narcissus

4. Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening

5. The Persistence of Memory

6. Galatea of the Spheres

7. Swans Reflecting Elephants

Five Fun Facts

1. Dali was a child prodigy producing his earliest known painting at just age six. This painting was titled Landscape of Figueres which was his hometown which now resides in the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg in Florida.

Now apparently that museum in St. Petersburg in Florida all of the information for the paintings is also available in braille for the sight impaired. So, I thought, that was a nice touch!

2. Dali’s talent was nurtured by his mum who died when he was 16 years old. He did attend The Fine Arts Academy in Madrid, however failed to graduate after his second expulsion.

Now I know where he was coming from there. I never liked art teachers either ………. I always found them to be a little bit sketchy!

3. It’s hard to believe and comprehend but Salvador Dali did not do any drugs! He once famously stated, “I don't do drugs, I am drugs.” To encourage his creative juices, he developed the paranoiac-critical method to allow him to access his subconscious.

4. Dali and another art legend namely Pablo Picasso were friends. Picasso went to Dali’s first solo exhibition in Barcelona where they met. And he also booked and paid for Dali’s exit from France just weeks before the Nazis invaded France.

5. And finally, Dali designed the logo for the Spanish company Chupa Chups. The logo is still used today and was designed back in 1969.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Salvador_Dali_by_Miguel_Rodez_2016.jpg

Three Question Quiz

Q.1. Did Dali once sell Yoko Ono a blade of grass for $10,000? True or false

Q.2. What did Dali wear to the opening of the London Surrealist Exhibition in 1936? Options are, a dress, a sailor suit, or a deep-sea diving suit

Q.3. Which Hitchcock thriller did Dali have a hand in? The options are Vertigo, Spellbound or Psycho?

Bonus Q. What was the name of Dali’s wife?

Mnemonic Recap

Salvador Dali – Top 7 Paintings Mnemonic – THe MuD PiGS

(Picture Salvador Dali wrestling two pigs in the mud)

1. The Temptation of Saint Anthony

2. The Hallucinogenic Toreador

3. Metamorphosis of Narcissus

4. Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening

5. The Persistence of Memory

6. Galatea of the Spheres

7. Swans Reflecting Elephants

Three Question Quiz Answers

Q.1. Did Dali once sell Yoko Ono a blade of grass for $10,000? True or false

A. True. Apparently, Ono had asked Dalí to sell him a strand of hair from his infamous mustache.

But Dali was a bit of a joker and thought that Yoko Ono was a witch and might use it in a spell and he didn't want to send her a personal item. So, he sent her off a blade of grass, in a nice presentation box!

Q.2. What did Dali wear to the opening of the London Surrealist exhibition in 1936? Options are, a dress, a sailor suit or a deep-sea diving suit

A. Deep-sea diving suit

Q.3. Which Hitchcock thriller did Dali have a hand in? The options are Vertigo, Spellbound or Psycho?

A. Spellbound, where he helped design sets

Bonus Q. What was the name of Dali’s wife?

A. Gala

Word of the Week

Dauntless

fearless; intrepid; bold.

Example

Dali’s Dauntless mustache was a prominent feature.

Extracted from: [https://www.dictionary.com/]