Dal

(Hardback)

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Painter, sculptor, writer, filmmaker, and all-round showman Salvador Dal (1904-1989) was one of the 20th century's greatest exhibitionists and eccentrics. One of the first artists to apply the insights of Freudian psychoanalysis to art, he is celebrated in particular for his surrealist practice, with such conceits as the soft watches or the lobster telephone, now hallmarks of the surrealist enterprise, and of modernism in general.

Dal frequently described his paintings as "hand-painted dream photographs." Their tantalizing tension and interest resides in the precise rendering of bizarre elements and incongruous arrangements. As Dal himself explained, he painted with "the most imperialist fury of precision," but only "to systematize confusion and thus to help discredit completely the world of reality."

Revolutionizing the role of the artist, the mustache-twirling Dal also had the intuition to parade a controversial persona in the public arena and, through printmaking, fashion, advertising, writing, and film, to create work that could be consumed and not just contemplated on a gallery wall.

This book explores both the painting and the personality of Dal, introducing his technical skill as well as his provocative compositions and challenging themes of death, decay, and eroticism.

Author Bio

Gilles Nret (19332005) was an art historian, journalist, writer, and museum correspondent. He organized several art retrospectives in Japan and founded the SEIBU Museum and the Wildenstein Gallery in Tokyo. He directed art reviews such as L'il and Connaissance des Arts and received the lie Faure Prize in 1981 for his publications. His TASCHEN titles include Salvador Dal: The Paintings, Matisse, and Erotica Universalis.