Salvador Dali Background

Inside the Head of Dali
Salvador Dali was a modern master of art. He unleashed a tidal wave of surrealistic inspiration, affecting not only fellow painters, but also designers of jewelry, fashion, architecture, Walt Disney, directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, performers like Lady Gaga, and Madison Street advertisers. Filled with antics of the absurd, Dali fashioned a world for himself, a world which we are cordially invited to experience his eccentricity, his passions, and his eternal questioning nature. Dali’s surreal paintings transport us to fantastic realms of dream, food, sex, and religion. Born on May 11, 1904, Dali was encouraged by his mother to explore, to taste, to smell, to experience life with all of its sensuality. As a boy, Dali often visited the Spanish coastal town of Cadaqués with his family. It was here that he found inspiration from the landscape, the sea, the rock formations, the bustling harbor, with ships transporting barrels of olives and troves of exotic spices. Dali was impressed by the Catholic churches, and their altars with the portrayal of Christ and of the angels and saints gracefully flying overhead, yet frozen in time and marble. It was in Cadaqués that Dali declared “I have been made in these rocks. Here have I shaped my personality. I cannot separate myself from this sky, this sea and these rocks.” It was in

Overt sex and sexuality can be found in much of his work. In The Great Masturbator, 1929, there is a female figure in an erotic pose. Next to the female figure are the legs and genitalia of a man. The Great Masturbator is a prime example of his admiration for sex. When Salvador Dali was young, he liked to compare his penis with that of his classmates. Upon seeing that his penis was not as big as his classmates, Dali’s insecurities grew. His sexual fears and anxieties can be seen, demonstrated by the bodies and phallic figures he painted over the progression of his