Salvador Dali and three pieces of his work

For this week we had looked at different surrealist artists and were asked to research three pieces of their work. I have chosen Salvador Dali, whom is one of the more well known surrealism artists.


The persistence of memory.



Is probably Dali's most iconic painting, and is a favourite of mine due to the significance that melting time could have, allowing the audience to truly think and mull over the piece, as well as it being painted very well with a mysterious landscape and neutral colours.

To me the painting signifies that of a you aren't aware of how little time we have and how it goes away if used poorly and we have nothing to show for it, and it appears to have just melted away, and we will be at a point in our life unhappy and unable to change.

Which can be seen by the head of a middle aged looking man with his eyes closed in the dirt.


Skull optical illusion




This is a photograph showing Salvador Dali and seven naked women models positioned in a manner to appear as a skull. Dali is shown looking away from the skull, which being made out of naked women probably signifies the temptation of  sexual desires and how he is above it by ignoring them.

The positioning of this photograph is unusual, due to Dali being in the third of a corner and the skull being used in the full half right side, instead of keeping to the rule of thirds idea or even golden section rule.

Skull of Zurbaran




The Skull Of Zurburan is a very technical piece by Dali, focusing on the use of perspective which can be seen by the curves and shading used within the tilers and doors. The painting features six priests praying before a stack of cubes, which with lighting looks like a skull, and the title ' the skull of Zurburan' refers to Francisco Zurburan, whom was referred as one of the greatest 17th century painters and hailed for the way he achieved dramatic light affects in his work.

This piece stands out to me due to the optical illusion affect in which the top of a cube also looks like the bottom of another, and how it looks like it had been effortlessly painted to achieve this affect.