1928
24 In April 1928 Dali borrowed ideas from Futurism.
More importantly, Dali co-wrote a script with Luis Bunuel in three days for a film, “Un Chien Andalou” (“An Andalusian Dog”).
This twenty four minute film consisted of a series of unrelated and unexplained images. The only unifying theme was that these images shocked the audience.
The film began with an eyeball sliced into two by a cloud. Then a hand seemed to be devoured by ants. Other images, just as shocking, followed.
The Spanish playwright, Federico Garcia Lorca, was a friend of both Bunuel and Dali. He was convinced that the Andalusian dog referred to him. He turned out to be right.
The film was well received by the critics and has been considered …show more content…
They were accompanied by the poet, Paul Eluard, and his wife, Gala.
Gala’s real name was Helena Diakanoff Devulina. They had a daughter, Cecile.
Initially, Gala found Dali strange and repulsive.
Dali was inexperienced in his relationships with women and felt awkward.
But they met at the beach at Es Llaner which seemed to add to the attraction between them. By the time Gala returned with Eluard in September, a bond had been forged between Gala and Dali.
Gala would eventually become both Muse and manager for Dali. Eluard soon left for a voyage, as if to forget the entire distressing affair. Eluard was an eccentric. He seemed to be quite willing to share Gala. After all, he had been openly unfaithful himself.
In the meantime, Dali produced works such as “The Lugubrious Game” which showed the pants soiled by excrement and “The Great Masturbator”, both oil on canvas.
Another major painting was “The Enigma of Desire.”
One of Dali’s paintings at the Goemans Gallery was entitled “Sometimes I Spit for Pleasure on the Portrait of my Mother, or The Sacred Heart”, ink on canvas mounted on …show more content…
He was so impressed by Dali’s works that he hosted another Dali exhibition at Madison Avenue in New York. The public response was encouraging and Levy made a handsome profit.
1932 28 Dali sent “William Tell” to the opening of the Salon des Independants on 2 February 1932. He also made speeches that glorified the Fascism of Hitler. This behavior infuriated the other Surrealists.
On 5 February 1932, he was summoned before a Surrealist tribunal headed by Andre Breton, the founder of Surrealism.
Dali turned up wrapped in warm clothing, claiming that he had a cold.
He stuffed a thermometer in his mouth which stifled his replies.
He distracted his accusers by constantly taking off and putting on his warm clothing. He also threatened to humiliate Andre Breton who had a horror of homosexuality.
Thanks to his theatrics and rhetoric, no action was taken against him. In any case, the success of his exhibitions meant that he was currently the most famous Surrealist.
1935 31 Dali’s father disinherited him, then reconciled with him. Eventually, his father drew up a new will allotting Dali one eighth of his estate.
The millionaire, Edward James, became the patron of