The Magnetism of Dali's Glass Sculptures

by Ho Pei Ying

Debris of an Automobile Giving Birth to a Blind Horse Biting a Telephone

Salvador Dali (1904-89) was a master painter of the Surrealist movement of the 20th century. He was considered a confident and arrogant genius. He wrote in his autobiography: "At the age of six I wanted to be a chef. At the age of seven I wanted to be Napoleon. My ambition has been growing steadily ever since, as has my megalomania; now all I want to be is Salvador Dali."

Dali was born in Figueres, Spain, in 1904. His talent in art began to show when he was in secondary school. In 1917, his father held an exhibition of young Salvador's charcoal drawings in their family home. In 1919, he held his first-ever solo exhibition in his hometown, Figueres. In 1921, Dali moved to Madrid, where he studied drawing, oil painting and sculpture at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts (Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando). In 1925, he held his first solo exhibition in Barcelona and attracted the attention of Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro.

Dali was an artist of great talent and imagination. He also led a flamboyant life. Besides his paintings, writings and eloquence, his famous flamboyant moustache, eccentric manner and attention-grabbing public actions had earned him the title "Most Absolute Surrealist".

Dali had said, "Surrealism is me!" In his works, he created strange and extraordinary images centered on life's mysteries, such as life and death, sexual desire, sexual disorientation and things pertaining to the universe. He produced images that went beyond mere paintings to reach a new level of reality. In his artworks, dreams became important sources of inspiration, and enigma or mystery played a major role. Dali's ambition was to "materialise images of concrete irrationality with the most imperialist fury of precision." Dali painted images from a dream world in such exacting clarity and meticulous detail that viewers feel they are entering a hallucinatory landscape.

They contain strange and bizarre juxtapositions of objects, and the transformation of one form into another form. For example, objects we know as hard and solid appear soft and malleable. Or inanimate objects appear alive and conscious. It's as though the normal laws of physics no longer apply to the people and objects in Dali's created world, much like the irrational and unpredictable world of the dream, challenging our normal sense of the real. He termed his creative process as the "paranoiac-critical method." (A spontaneous method of irrational knowledge based upon the interpretive-critical association of delirious phenomena.)

His bizarre dreamlike images such as "The Persistence of Memory" and "Venus de Milo with Drawers" have not only stirred up onlookers' imagination but they also possess an extraordinary attraction, exuding a mysterious and unforgettable visual experience.

As a master of the Surrealist movement, Dali became a subject of people's focus and controversial subject of conversation. Although Dali garnered attention through his provocative exploits and theatrical behaviour, however, nobody can deny his intense talent and immeasurable creative spirit. His artworks were central to the development of the Surrealist aesthetic, provoking the world with surreal inventiveness and his own bizarre personality. He has created an image of time.

Dali said, "The only difference between me and a madman is that I am not mad."

Venus de Milo with Drawers	Cyclops

Dalí was a versatile artist - he did not confine himself to painting but experimented with many unusual or novel media and processes. His ingenious creativity and innovative spirit can also be seen also in his furniture designs, films, writings and sculptures. He has remarked, "Instead of stubbornly attempting to use surrealism for purposes of subversion, it is necessary to try to make of surrealism something as solid, complete and classic as the works of museums."(1)

Sculpturing gave Dali another creative form of expression. In 1968, Dali was enthralled by the process of the pâte de verre, or glass casting, from soft to hard and from opaque to transparent forms, which successfully translated every whim of Dali's imagination.

Pâte de verre involves making a glass paste to be applied to the surface of a mold and then fired. This art form was the most difficult form of glassmaking technique, but it was an ideal mode for Dali's artistic expressions. A complicated piece of work requires twelve perfect processes to complete. Pâte de verre is created from specially-produced finely-crushed glass melted in custom-made moulds. Several factors have a bearing on the final product: the granule size of the crushed glass, the proportions in the batch, the chemical reaction between certain minerals and metals, and the rate of increase and decrease in the temperature within the kilns. As a result, the entire process is carried out for each new piece, sometimes copied but never equalled. This is what makes pâte de verre such a unique process.

Glass sculptures have the ability to capture both fine details and subtle contouring, and each glass sculpture will radiate with light and colour. Through its purity and the special way a sculptor brings to life the minutest variations in light through the flamboyant intensity of colours and harmony of the lines, each of Dali's creation is a unique work of art with a mysteriously-engaging charm.

Through glass sculptures, Dali has created works such as "The Persistence of Memory", "Venus de Milo with Drawers", "Cyclops", "The Flower of Evil", "Hyperrational Desire" and "Debris of an Automobile Giving Birth to a Blind Horse Biting a Telephone". Each creation, executed based on the subjects in his own works, was then softened, distended and underwent transmutation, becoming a dream-like and hallucinatory artwork.(2)

Dali continued to produce artwork until he reached his late 70s, a career that lasted about 60 years. In this long and prolific time, he has created over 1,500 paintings, dozens of sculptures, designs and costumes for theatre, one novel and even a short animated film for Disney. Dali once said on television, "Dali is immortal and will never die!" Certainly, he has done that.

(1) http://quote.robertgenn.com/getquotes.php?catid=297
(2) Apart from glass, crystal may also be used.

[Courtesy March 2011 Cosmic]