Maggie Cheek

Portfolio 3

Salvador Dali
 Salvador Dali was born in Figueres, Spain on May 11, 1904. As a young child, he showed

immense talent, wowing people with his drawings that were far beyond his age. Dalis parents,

Salvador Dal y Cusi and Felipa Domenech Ferres, supported his art work by building him an art

studio before they sent him to an art school in Figueres in 1916. In 1922, Dali went to another art

school in Madrid, where he was exposed to new artistic styles that influenced his early work.

Being quite the troubler, he was expelled a year later, only to return in 1926 to be permanently

banned from the art school. After his schooling, he spent time in Paris where he worked

alongside many artists such as Pablo Picasso and Joan Mir. He experimented with the styles of

Futurism, Impressionism, and Cubism, leading to his first Surrealist period. Influenced by

Renaissance artists, Dali used techniques that incorporated his dreams and subconscious thoughts

and made them into a reality on his canvas. Dali met his wife, Elena Dmitrievna Diakonova in

1929, who helped him with the business aspects of his artistry. By 1930, Dali was a influential in

the Surrealistic world, and he painted his most famous piece The Persistence of Memory. In

1934, Dali was held at a so-called trial amongst the members of the Surrealistic movement and

was banished from the group, resulting from disagreements between him and the heads of the

movement. Dali and his wife moved to the United States during World War Two, a move that

held great significance in his career. While in the States, he gained his own exhibit with an art

museum in New York. His autobiography, The Secret Life of Salvador Dali, was also published

in 1942. It was this time that Dali finally moved away from the Surrealistic movement and into

his classical period. In this period, he focused more on religious, historical, and scientific aspects

in his art. In 1980, Dali retired from his lifelong career of painting due to a disorder that caused

permanent weakness, as well as relentless trembling, in his hands. After struggling through years
of tragedy and depression, Salvador Dali died at the age of 84 of congestive heart failure on

January 23, 1989.

The Face of War was a piece of Dalis that he created in 1940 during World War Two.

The oil paintings brown face symbolizes the frightening and ugly characteristics of war. Dali

used dull tones of brown to create a sense of weariness and misery that is associated with war

and time of struggle. In the eyes and mouth of the face, other faces are visible with the same

effect. This represents the forever ongoing misery of war and the pain it inflicts. Although Dalis

painting was inspired by World War Two that affected everyone around the earth, it was

personally meaningful to him about the second Spanish Civil War that rocked his country and

people for three years. The Face of War was Dalis way of paying tribute and honoring his

country during their great time of struggle. Furthermore, the landscape behind the head is barren,

symbolizing the loneliness and destruction the war can cause. The serpent creatures surrounding

the head show the attacks that the people suffering from war face constantly. Overall, Dali meant

to display all the negative effects that war can have on people of a group. It shows that death,

destruction, and despair that follows war.

 Works Cited

Biography.com - http://www.biography.com/people/salvador-dal-40389

MetaColor - http://metacolor.org/salvador-dali-painting-the-face-of-war1940/

Dali Paintings - http://www.dalipaintings.com/

Art Painting Artist - http://artpaintingartist.org/the-face-of-war-by-salvador-dali/