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SalvadorDaliSurrealist-Capitalist-Fascist,

Enigmatic Link of Disparate Worlds

By Carlos Albert, Samuel Janis, Aaron Pultz, and Liping Zhang Submitted May 10th, 2011 Final Project, MAS-961

Dali: Enigmatic Link of Disparate Worlds -by Carlos Albert, Samuel Janis, Aaron Pultz, Liping Zhang

TableofContents

TheVisualization ................................................................................................................................. 3

NetworkKey .......................................................................................................................................... 4

TheNarrative ........................................................................................................................................ 5Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................5PeriodI.DeepImmersioninSurrealistCultureandThought:Paris ............................................5PeriodII.ConformitytoCapitalism:USA.................................................................................................6PeriodIII.ReturntoRoots,Catholicism,andtheEmbraceofFascism:Spain............................7Conclusion.ImmortalPerhaps,EnigmaticIndeed ..............................................................................8

Appendix1:NodeandLinkData..................................................................................................... 9

Please Note:

We have also developed an online presentation of the network accessible at:

https://prezi.com/secure/a4d9ee71dc0e33deb98b65db70c2941059d17f11/


The Visualization


Network Key

NODES COLOR POLITICAL AFFILIATION Red……………………….Leftist Dark blue…………………Capitalist Light blue…………………Undefined Green……………………..Fascist SHAPE PROFESSION Circle……………………..Artist (musician, painter, film, etc...) Triangle…………………..Scientist Square……………………Politician LINKS THICKNESS INTENSITY OF RELATION (1 to 5, 1=thickest, most intense) COLOR TYPE OF ELATIONSHIP Red………………………Love, sexual Green……………………Colleague Blue……………………...Friend Yellow…………………...Patron Black…………………….Enemies


The Narrative

Introduction The network of Salvador Dali reveals a fascinating confluence of radical art, global politics, and the burgeoning consumerist culture of the 20th century. We find that Dali is a uniquely central node of modern art and Surrealism. His influence however, is deeply contentious and often directly contradictory to the Surrealist movement. In the context of World War II, we find that Dali’s revealed politics clash profoundly with the core values of Surrealist philosophy, while his visual ascetic and painting style remain increasingly aligned with the movement. Beyond painting per se, we find that Dali is peripherally connected to a surprising range of mainstream and socially conservative figures and trends of mid 20th century cosmopolitan society. Most notably, Dali serves as a link of unprecedented “betweeness,” connecting disparate cliques of American capitalism (via Walt Disney, Alfred Hitchcock, Jack Warner, and Helena Rubenstein), Spanish fascism (via Francisco Franco), and even modern music. Dali’s social network also had a powerful influence over his own artwork, manifesting itself in different philosophical ideas as well as direct collaborative efforts.

Period I. Deep Immersion in Surrealist Culture and Thought: Paris The exploration of Dali’s enigmatic identity begins with his conflicted relationship to family. Dali’s mother, whom he loved and admired fiercely, died of breast cancer when he was 16. This was a tragic blow, and perhaps the primary cause of his notoriously tortured relationship with the opposite sex throughout his adult life. Shortly after the death of his mother, Dali fled Spain and made his new family with the Parisian Surrealist and Dadaist group led by Andre Breton. For this, Dali was promptly disowned and disinherited by his father, who blamed the Surrealists for their demoralizing and blasphemous influences. During this period of deep immersion in the Surrealist culture of Paris, Dali became an intimate member of the core cadre of the so-called Surrealist Revolution. This group included Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, José Bello, Luis Buñuel, and Federico García Lorca, amongst at least 18 others, many of whom are displayed on the attached network map. The group was led and dominated by Andre Breton, who Dali considered a “spiritual father.” Breton published the first Surrealist Manifesto, a bold document that elucidates the intersection of anarchist thought, art, and the psychoanalytical approaches of Sigmund Freud. Dali embraced this document at the time, which demonstrates the enormity of the distance between his artistic origins, intermediary pursuit of capitalist entertainment, and his eventual, final acquiescence to Spanish fascism and conservative Catholicism. In Paris, Dali was particularly enthralled with Freud, some say to the point of obsession. Freud’s theories of subconscious psychology exerted a strong influence over the surrealist


philosophy and style, providing fertile imagery for Dali’s dream-like paintings.1 However, Freud himself refused to accept Dali as a patient, even after his persistent attempts and reported harassment. It is thought that Freud’s rejection may have left Dali with a lingering sense of inadequacy, which was further compounded by his disrupted relationship with his father and mother. Also during this period, Dali met his lifelong muse and partner Gala, who would remain the most persistent first-degree link in the Dali Network. Her influence over Dali’s art is stronger than any other personal connection and is there for the world to see - she is featured in numerous paintings representing both herself and other such iconic figures as the Madonna and Leda.2 Gala’s presence in Dali’s network also represents a dizzyingly incestuous quality within the Parisian art scene. She was originally married to Paul Eluard, a poet and one of the original founders of the surrealist movement. After their separation, he married the Nusch, who modeled for and was friends with Man Ray and Picasso (with whom she is rumored to have had an affair). Gala also had multiple affairs while married to Dali, but many of these were at his behest, and even included her former husband. Dali’s tight group of colleagues and friends provided many opportunities to expand his art in new directions. Man Ray introduced Dali to photography, and both men featured in each other’s experimental work. Of even greater influence is the surrealist and avant-garde filmmaker Luis Bunuel. Their collaboration spawned the creation of two of the most influential surrealists films in history, Un Chien Andalou and L’Age d’Or.

Period II. Conformity to Capitalism: USA At the onset of World War II, the Surrealist group led by Breton began to deride Dali for his political ambiguity and failure to explicitly condemn Spanish fascism in 1936. Dali refused to align himself with the anarcho-communist rhetoric of Breton and instead made provocative statements alluding to an admiration of fascism and monarchism. This was considered by Breton to be a philosophical slap in the face and grounds for banishment from the Community. While his colleagues were painting explicit condemnations of Fascist atrocities—Picasso’s Guernica is a primary example of this genre—Dali maintained a less than closeted fascination with what he termed the “Hitler Phenomenon.” He painted intentionally provocative works such as the Enigma of Hitler and the Enigma of William Tell (a caricature of Lenin) for which he claimed as a defense, "no dialectical progress will be possible if one adopts the reprehensible attitude of rejecting and fighting against Hitlerism without trying to understand it as fully as possible."3

1See Dali’s “Dreams Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate, One second before Awakening, 1944” for an example of dream imagery. 2Dali’s painting “Leda Atomica” is based on the Greek legend of Zeus and Leda. 3 See: Vallen, M. (2005) “Salavador Dali: Avida Dollars” Art for a Change. accessed from: http://www.art-for-a-change.com/content/essays/dali.htm


As a result of this seeming inhumanity, Dali was permanently expelled from the Breton group in 1939. At this moment he also publicly announced his support to the conservative regime of Spain led at the time by the dictator Francisco Franco. Conveniently, Dali then fled Europe for the United States where he began his career as a capitalist entertainer. The arrangements and initial financing for Dali’s “American adventure” were organized by a core group of modern art benefactors, including Helena Rubenstein, Caresse Crosby, Julien Levy, and Edward James. Dali’s 8-year adventure/hiatus in the U.S. can be considered the defining moment in the construction of his eccentric political schema. During this time, he developed strong and persistent ties to American entertainment executives including Jack Warner and Walt Disney, both known for their rabid anti-communist positions and support for Senator Joseph McCarthy’s House Committee on Un-American Activities. Dali also became directly connected to high profile New York socialites and patrons of the art. As a result of Dali’s newfound fame and commercial success, Breton bestowed upon him the title “Avida Dollars” (Eager for Dollars). Then in typical trickster style, Dali enthusiastically embraced the derisive nickname. With this name and the iconic fu-man-chu facial hair, Dali defined his lifelong public persona and brand. This included various kooky antics on stage or in print, intentionally enigmatic habits—note the giant leather rhinoceros he carried on stage for “The Tonight Show” in 1959—and a penchant for speaking of himself in third person—e.g., “Dali is immortal,” said during an interview with Mike Wallace on 60 minutes. Dali became an expert entertainer and lovable personality in the U.S and Breton’s nickname for him proved entirely accurate. Dali made a fortune in the U.S.—nearly 30 million dollars—through extensive collaboration with advertising firms and the likes of Hollywood superstars such as Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock. Dali also collaborated on numerous productions for the stage, creating sets for the legendary Ballet Russes and working with the composer Paul Bowles, who was intimately involved with the American wing of modern music. Dali was also connected to Igor Stravinsky, who’s revolutionary ballet the Rite of Spring turned classical music on its head. Interestingly, both men were forces for change in their respective artistic fields during their time, yet their work is accessible enough that the popular public could appreciate it (and still does, unlike some of their edgier colleagues who continue to remain inaccessible to the layperson).

Period III. Return to Roots, Catholicism, and the Embrace of Fascism: Spain Dali not only found a fortune but also religion in America, and in 1947, after the close of the war, he returned to Franco’s Spain as a devout Catholic. He attended Church regularly and maintained a close connection to the dictator (who personally commissioned him to paint his granddaughter’s portrait). Iconic religious imagery began appearing in his later work. During this same period, in stark contrast to the overt political materialism of Dali, Andre Breton was wholly converted to Trotskyism. He travelled to Mexico where he lived with Diego Rivera and Frida Kalho, while working with Leon Trotsky on their joint manifesto entitled Towards a


Free Revolutionary Art. This was the antithesis of Dali’s artistic identity and Breton continued to reject his former protégé on grounds of political absolutism. In a similar tone, George Orwell also found Dali to be a “skilled draftsman but disgusting human being.”4 For Dali’s part, his political vacuity and artistic eccentricity only continued to grow during his later years in Spain. He maintained close ties to Franco as well as American capitalists. While abroad, he cultivated a self-image of extravagance and pursued platonic yet deeply intimate muse relationships with the likes of Carlos Lozano and Amanda Lear. He appeared less frequently in public with his wife Gala but maintained her as a domestic partner at his residence in Port Lligat, Spain. As a final element of eccentricity in this network, Dali pursued, if superficially a strong interest in physics. It is not apparent whether his worship of Heisenberg, Bohr, and Max Planck ever consummated itself in a meeting; nevertheless, it is obvious that both his work and commentary pay tribute to concepts in quantum mechanics and Einstein’s special theory of relativity.5

Conclusion. Immortal Perhaps, Enigmatic Indeed Dali died in a state of deep suffering. For years, the near-senile Gala had been dosing him with an unprescribed cocktail of pain relievers which resulted in the destruction of Dali’s motor control facilities and the untimely demise of his painting career. Gala died in 1982, leaving Dali in despair. In 1988, a kitchen fire left him with gruesome third degree burns and eventually, heart failure. He spent the remaining eight months of his life hospitalized as various friends visited, including King Juan Carlos who bestowed upon him the title Marqués de Dalí de Púbol. Dali was buried in the crypt of Figueres, the Catalonian village of his birth. His life had truly come full circle—from a youthful immersion in radical art and culture, to an extravagant foray into American capitalism, and finally, an acquiescent return to Spanish conservatism. The constant throughout was of course his devotion to the Surrealist craft. In the mind of purists however, Dali pursued frivolity at the expense of art. In the mind of Dali, the distinction was not dichotomous. His life was itself a dynamic and enigmatic mixture of flamboyance and repression, art and entertainment, political conservatism and radicalism. For this reason, the network of Salvador Dali is wildly eccentric and contrasting. He has few strongly persistent ties but many tenuous links that connect disparate political philosophies and rival personalities such as Franco and Nixon, Disney and Trotsky. Yet there is no doubt that his social network had a strong influence upon his art and those he collaborated with.

4 Ibid 3 5Dali’s “Still Life - Fast Moving” was inspired by Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle.


Appendix 1: Node and Link Data

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