By Laura Rathbone
Progressive art can assist people to learn not only about the objective forces at work in the society in which they live, but also about the intensely social character of their interior lives. Ultimately, it can propel people toward social emancipation.
Salvador Dali
In the summer of 2005 I snook onto a train from Barcelona city to the Dali Theatre Museum just north from the city. This was the summer I spent a couple of weeks homeless in Barcelona nourished almost entirely by art, music and the kindness closing stalls at La Boqueria, Barcelona's oldest market on La Rambla. As hard and scary as it was at the time, it certainly taught me some life lessons I still live by today.
In the surreal world of Dali time melts away like the clocks melting throughout his world, taxis rain on the inside as we revel in the isolation that technology brings us, and rooms twist reality by shifting your perception of artwork you have already studied, changing the image and the meaning with it from a new vantage point. Dali created an absurd and thought-provoking space filled with installations, design and paintings that challenge your perception and invite you to question the very fabric of existence.
Who was Salvador Dali?
Salvador Dali, born in Figueres, Spain in 1904 and active in art from 1929 to 1973. Dali was born nine months after his brother's passing. His family considered him to be the reincarnation of his deceased brother and he was even named after him and might give some insight into his obsession with time, memory and dreams.
He was introduced to surrealism by Picasso and Miró, but his main influence is considered to be Sigmund Freud's work on psychoanalysis.
He was public with his use of psychedelic drugs to aid his artistic method and is famously quoted as saying: "Take me, I am the drug; take me, I am hallucinogenic." In-deed "The Persistence of Memory" is credited as being inspired by seeing camembert melt in the sun, but could also have been by influenced experiences with cannabis or mescaline (extracted from the Peyote plant in north mexico and sacred to the Huichol or Wixárika people). He aimed to draw the observers attention to the absurdity of being human and the rules by which we live.
"...hand painted dream photographs"
Salvador Dali on his own artwork
It's fascinating to see how Dalí delved deep into the realms of the unconscious mind to create his art. He embraced a method developed by writer and 'father of surrealism' André Breton called automatism. This is a method whereby an artist stifles conscious control over the creative process by allowing the unconscious mind and intuition to guide the work.
Dali would later develop this method into the Paranoic Critical Method. This method involved he opened up the subconscious through systematic irrational thought and a self-induced paranoid state. After emerging from a paranoid state, Dalí would create "hand-painted dream photographs" from what he had experienced
The Persistence of Memory (1931)
Probably one of his most famous works is "The Persistence of Memory" and is currently on display in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.
Dali based the vista of this piece on an area from his home coastline of Catalunya: “This picture represented a landscape near Port Lligat, whose rocks were lighted by a transparent and melancholy twilight; in the foreground an olive tree with its branches cut, and without leaves.”
Traditionally art is representing what exists, but with surrealism the artist is free to play with reality and create pieces filled with potential-meaning but that are un-real. The artist is painting between-the-lines to create confusion and draw the observer into the work through their own sense-making. Dali believed that there was a shared sense of connection and human experience that would connect us with his work and certainly there are some general themes that we can observe in this piece relating to time, decay, light and shadow, and the isolation we can often feel.
Amongst all the melting clocks, ants, and hidden within the foreground of the painting is a large white object with a clock melting over the top, as if it has somehow melted into or onto the object. Many believe this to be a profile self-portrait of Dali himself and a comment about our relationship with time. Perhaps one way of interpreting this is that we are burdened by the memories of our past (or past-lives in the case of Dali and his brother). Or perhaps he is making a comment about the weight of time itself, holding us down and anchored to the ground, slipping further into the shadow of the foreground.
The ants in the light bottom left of the corner may symbolise decay within Dali's work, and it's interesting that this is eye catching, but strangely seems to be the most unusual piece of the work. the ay the ants are moving and staying inside the orange rusty clock, as if they are working on it diligently. The only bit of the art that really seems to be alive seems strange, like a bustle of activity in what is seemingly a slow and melting world.
What stands out for me, is that this painting seems to be asking us to reflect on time and our relationship with it. The face in the forefront seems to be passively pinned by time itself, and this urges me to consider myself, am I actively choosing my life or just simply going through the motions and allowing time to pass?
I'm really excited to be sharing this piece with you this month and to explore what you think about it and your musings!
Questions to reflect on:
What do you feel when you view this piece
What themes/recurrent images do you see utilised in this piece?
What is unusual about this piece? What stands out?
Do you think the artist was trying to communicate something with you?
Why do you think Dali called it "The Persistence of Memory"?
How does this piece relate to something within the human experience, or your experience of being human?
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