Salvador Dali

“I am Surrealism” said Salvador Dalí upon arriving in New York, probably accompanied by his pet anteater.

A man with many talents and multiple facets, Salvador Dalí carved out his own place in the canons of art history as one of the most impactful artists of the 20th century.

One of the anchoring figures of the surrealist movement, Salvador Dalí's multidisciplinary technique, eclectic personality and works stratified with layers of sexual and psychological insinuation left behind an indelible imprint on the world of modern art.

SALVADOR DALÍ: BEYOND SURREALISM

Salvador Dalí was everything but ordinary when it came to his artistic approach. So much to the point that he made efforts to estrange himself from other Surrealist artists of his time. This eventually led to his exclusion from the group of contemporary surrealists altogether. However, Dalí was not afraid of being eschewed, and it certainly did not prevent him from becoming the icon that we know today. His art was developed through the use of a “paranoiac-critical method”, something that artists still tap into in order to draw original inspiration from the hidden parts of their minds.

Strongly influenced by psychoanalysis, Dalí gave his work an original graphic form, in which death and eroticism sometimes merged. Among other things, he invented a method of spontaneous creation he called "paranoia-criticism".

DALI AND SURREALIST CONTEMPORARIES

To talk about Surrealism and to only mention Salvador Dalí is to forget his contemporaries, who were both artists and writers such as André Masson, Louis Aragon, Max Ernst, Man Ray and specifically, André Breton, who published a Surrealism manifesto in 1924. Breton was the first to define the Surrealist movement as “Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express…the actual functioning of thought…in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from aesthetic or moral concern.”

The artist must be attentive to the images that emerge in their mind. To achieve a proper representation, one must reassess objects so that they can be evaluated according to what they truly are and not according to their previous material context. This is no simple feat and proved to be a major challenge for artists.

DALI'S IMPACT ACROSS ARTISTIC MEDIUMS

His distinctive approach to art, imbued with original pictorial techniques and disconcerting imaginative visions, opened up new creative horizons. He was not confined to paintings, lithographs, sculpture or any one particular art style. Salvador Dalí introduced elements of dream, symbolism and fantastic realism into his work. His work did not stop with the creation of paintings or lithographs, he also influenced other artistic fields such as sculpture, photography and cinema, collaborating with director Luis Buñuel on the silent film Un chien andalou (1929).

His impact transcends artistic boundaries, touching fashion, advertising and even popular culture. His masterful use of symbolism and constant exploration of the human psyche make Salvador Dalí an undisputed master whose legacy continues to inspire generations of artists and admirers.

SALVADOR DALÍ AND HIS MOST FAMOUS PAINTINGS

An adept of the self-portrait, he regularly incorporated his own caricature with a pronounced taste for trompe-l'œil images. Dalí's greatest works include The Persistence of Memory (the work made up of melting clocks hanging over trees and spread across the surface of the canvas), Le Grand Masturbateur, The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory (another work made up of melting clocks across a grid) and Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening. All of these works exist in multiple iterations as paintings, which can mainly be found in museums, and sometimes art galleries or auctions. The price for a Dalí painting is staggering, his record price was at auction hit $21 million in the late 1990s.

However, you do not have to be an auction goer in order to have the pleasure of owning your own Salvador Dalí artwork. With a similar commercial outlook to a certain Andy Warhol, Dalí mass-produced many of his most popular artworks and his most famous paintings in the form of lithographs. These lithographs are available for sale and can acquired without having to step foot in a physical art gallery or in an auction house.

COLLECT SALVADOR DALÍ LITHOGRAPHS

Discover exceptional lithographs by Salvador Dalí, complete with the artist's signature. If you are interested in Dalí and would like to own a piece of history, browse through his gallery on Rise Art and discover his magnificent lithographs. A wide range of subject matter, you can buy Salvador Dalí elephant prints, melting clock lithographs, zodiac lithographs and the most absurd surrealist work one could imagine. Step inside Dalí's mind and add his works to your collection today.