Meaning Through Symbolic Figures As Dali example essay topic

Salvador Dali was a Spanish painter who was mainly a surrealist painter. Dali was born on the 11th of May in 1904 in Figueras, Spain and studied at the academy of fine arts until he was expelled at the age of 19 for indiscipline. Influences in Dali's work are the writings of Sigmund Freud, a famous psychologist and the works of Paris Surrealists. The surrealist movement focused on 'the imagery from the subconscious mind with no intent of making the artwork logically comprehensible'.

Vali Myers was also a painter with her own unique style of painting. Myers was born in Sydney, Australia and at 19 she moved to Paris, then later moved between Positano, Italy and New York's infamous Chelsea hotel, she became friends with artists like Salvador Dali, Mick Jagger and Janis Joplin, her paintings were described by Dali as "excellent" and "original". An example of Salvador Dali's work is 'daddy longlegs of the evening... Hope!' (1940) is a piece that Dali created with oil on canvas 41 cm x 51 cm. This art work is a detailed meaningful piece, every aspect of the painting was put there for a reason other then 'cause it looked good' upon the first glance there is a feeling of dread and misgiving. The intention of this work is 'to be an examination of the terrors of World War 2' Dali fills the piece with references to the events which occurred during World War 2.

The cannon in the top left hand corner seems to symbolize death and war, the horse coming out of the mouth of the cannon may symbolize one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and 'the events of 1940 in Europe could have certainly appeared Apocalyptical, especially to someone as sensitive as Dali'. The soft airplane, and another nearby object, the winged victory figure, are symbolic of "victory born of a broken wing" as Dali described it. Salvador felt that the use of air power would be the decisive element of the war, the very key to victory itself. History has shown that this is at least partially true. Closer to the center of the painting is a 'soft figure', what Dali calls a 'soft self-portrait'. Its decaying body is drooped over a dead tree, it has two inkwells sitting on it, and it's holding a violin and bow.

The inkwells are symbolic of the signing of treaties, although Dali also occasionally used them to express sexuality as well. There are ants attacking the 'soft' head, Dali's ants represent decay and decomposition. In the lower left hand corner, a cupid figure looks over the scene, holding its face in one hand, and reaching out the other towards the destruction he sees before him. Surrealism was born out of the rebellion against the mindless destruction of World War I. In reality, none of the issues that caused that war were ever resolved, and this led to World War II, which shocked and outraged Dali and many others, prompting these sorts of works that seem to say "Dear God not again!" .

The daddy longlegs (mentioned in the title) when seen in the evening is the French symbol of hope, is the glimpse of hope in the midst of pain and terror. The daddy longlegs is situated in almost the center of the page, which represents its importance and overall message of the artwork, that no matter how much pain and terror there is always hope, no matter how distant it seems. Dali's subject matter is very much a dream like place and is consistent through out all or most of his works. In his works everything is there for a reason, with meaning and purpose behind all aspects of his work he created beautiful respectable works. An example of Vali Myers work is called 'Dido and the dingo dog' (1969), Myers works don't have as much meaning through symbolic figures as Dali but does emotional and personal meanings.

In Vali's 'hideaway' in an Italian valley, Myers had many pets and animal companions, the spirals and what looks to be like buildings seem to represent the valley she had in Italy, Myers interpretation of her head is situated in the shape of a U perhaps suggesting that's where her inspiration for the work came from. The 'dingo dog' in this artwork has pools of blood at its feet and its tongue hanging out. These aspects make the dog look dead and in pain. The face of Myers is crying which also means this death of her 'dingo dog' effected her greatly, so greatly that the head with tears is the largest object which grabs your attention and then the second largest is the 'dingo dog' and the bright colors evens out the balance.

Myers subject matter reflects more on her family of animals and friends and her love for them. Her works show us her experiences and are less symbolic then Dali's. Salvador Dali and Vale Myers seem to have almost completely different styles with Dali painting smooth, flowing objects and Myers using dots to fill the page, incorporated with all different types of shapes and patterns but still remaining in her bohemian hippy style. These two artist appreciated each others work and yet still kept their own unique ideas and styles.