The Surrealism of Salvador Dali Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Surrealism of Salvador Dali - Essay Example The essay "The Surrealism of Salvador Dali" focuses on the surrealistic art of Salvador Dali. Surrealism was born in the period between World War I and World War II, 1919-1939. When we look at Dal’s work during this period, we can see the beginning of a thoughtful contemplation on surrealism. One of the most convenient places to readily access Dali’s body of work is the online site called Virtual Dali. At this web site one can access the works through the organized periods of the artist’s work: 1910-1927; 1951-1959; 1960-1972; 1972-1983. So when we say that the period to 1919-1939 reflected a thoughtfulness on the subject of surrealism, it was perhaps because many of the works from that period are portraiture that appears caught between cubism – introduced by Pablo Picaso between 1907-1914 - and surrealism, although some of the themes that we see in works like Saltimbanques has some of the recurring elements that we find in later Dali surrealism. In Saltim banques we see familiar figures from later works in familiar poses, but not in the state of surrounding surrealism. Still, it was clear that surrealism was on Dali’s mind, and if a community was represented by surrealism, a philosophy, then these early works demonstrates that Salvador Dali was leaning towards the surrealist community, exploring his own like-mindedness with the community. Pierrot Playing the Guitar is almost as if the artist is still mired in the muck between cubism and what would become his own specialty in surrealism.