There’s time to go to Dali’s exhibition in Dubai
I think there were two things that saved Dali from craziness: the paranoiac-critical method and Gala Nicolas Descharnes, Dali scholar
What is it about artists’ personal lives that fascinate art connoisseurs? Is it that their angst gives birth to great art? Take Salvador Dali. Today, the Spanish surrealist’s tumultuous life and flamboyance evokes as much interest as his art. An exhibition of his artworks as well as some rare photographs of the artist, taken by his secretary (and photographer) Robert Descharnes, is currently on (till April 22) at the Conference Hall, Dubai International Financial Centre. Juxtaposing the art with glimpses of the artist himself has been a useful exercise in that it helps a viewer to understand Dali with all his complexities. In a conversation with Khaleej
Times, Nicolas Descharnes — the photographer’s son, a Dali expert and guest curator of the show — peels off some layers of Dali’s persona.
Would you say Dali’s larger-than-life persona eclipsed his work?
His compositions are outcomes of deep introspection. His life can actually be put on stage, it’s stuff of theatre. So for me, it’s the whole thing that matters — the man and his work. He’s a genius.
How would you describe your father, Robert’s association with Dali?
After being wounded during World War I (WWI), my grandfather passed away following a prolonged illness. Robert was largely raised by women who had lost their husbands in WWI. Throughout his life, he missed a mentor. Dali eventually became his mentor. Both men were curious about things around them, and that brought them together.
What, according to you, drew Dali towards surrealism?
At the beginning of the last century, after Cubism, Dadaism and abstract revolution, Surrealism arrived with its desire to connect with the subconscious. I think André Breton (the founder of Surrealism) became his mentor for a while, starting in 1929, when he met him in Paris. Shortly after, in 1934, a dissent arose in the French humanities. These years in Paris helped Dali evolve intellectually. The Surrealists could not ignore him. He did become autonomous with his paranoiac-critical method and was certainly much more connected with the media. But so skilled was he that he will always remain the ‘Super Surrealist’ (Surrealism is believed to have ended with the death of Andre Breton).
Can you tell us about the Freudian influence in Dali’s works?
Before psychoanalysis came into the picture, if you experienced any trauma, you would be sent to the psychiatric hospital. With Freud, Dali could save himself from being seen as crazy. He could help him understand and express his trauma and anxiety. Dali conceived the paranoiac-critical method (a Surrealist technique that involves evoking a state of paranoia in the imagery) to save himself: it was meant to express his anxiety, his own paranoia through irrational images of the subconscious and turn it into a positive creative force. In his works, the themes might be irrational but they are ordered in a rational way.
Dali often emphasised his Arab lineage. How did it shape him as an artist?
Being raised in Spain, he may have learnt about oriental art through art history and of course, the Moorish architecture of Southern Spain. He painted Arab fighters in a few of his paintings during the ’60s, inspired by the war between Spain and Morocco. In his 1963 painting
Gal acid al acid e so xiri bu nucleic acid—which is an homage to the discovery of DNA by Francis Crick and James Watson — on the lower left, he paints Arab fighters who form cubes that are linked to the DNA. This could be an allusion to his Arab roots.
A lot has been written about Dali’s complex relationship with his wife Gala. How do you understand it?
I think there were two things that saved Dali from craziness: the paranoiac-critical method and Gala. Both came into his life at the same time in 1929. He was largely loyal to his wife, even if she was 10 years older than him. She was his muse. She could calm him down and let him live freely with his creations. Gala maintained a low profile but she had a lot of wisdom. She experienced life with the poet Paul Eluard and the painter Max Ernst. In my opinion, the couple faced a crisis after 10 years of their marriage and Gala chose to have a boyfriend. Dali was comfortable with this situation as he channeled his energy into creating art.
Would it be correct to say that he had a masochistic side to him?
Dali often quotes “the state of grace,” which is associated with spirituality. Through art, an artist can escape his pain. The pain also catalyses a sensation. The highest form of pain could also drive you to a state of ecstasy. I wouldn’t say Dali was a masochist, in the sense that he didn’t have to use superficial process to make him suffer in order to create. His pain was internalised. He fought his suffering through careful introspection.
The Persistence of Memory is his most famous work. What was the thought that went into it?
After marrying Gala, Dali was chided by his father. He couldn’t even live in Cadaques and had to go to Port Lligat, which was a small village. Two years later, he painted The Persistence of Memory. The painting, on the lower left, shows a pocket watch on which ants are walking. It could symbolise his father with the putrefaction of thought being symbolised by insects. Salvador Dali: The Memories will be exhibited at the Conference Centre, DIFC till April 22