Dalí: 1904-1989: Conquest of the Irrational (Basic Art) - Tapa dura

Lobsters and lunacy

The zaniest Surrealist of them all

Painter, sculptor, writer, film-maker, and all-round showman Salvador Dal (1904 1989)was one of the twentieth 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.

About the Series:Each book in TASCHEN s Basic Art series features: a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importancea concise biographyapproximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions