Salvador Dalí & WWII

It’s been said that all art, at its core, is political in nature. Since the dawn of mankind, art has been used to promote, protest, commemorate and explore the themes of war and the inherently human elements which rest at its violent center. According to the Monterey History & Art Association: Salvador Dalí, the works of Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí are no exception to these truths.

Dalí was born and raised in Catalonia, Spain during an era marked with political unrest and war. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, the famed artist fled to France, where he resided for the years between 1936 and 1939. In 1940, war and political unrest upended the artist’s life yet again. When German troops entered Bordeaux during WWII, Dalí and his wife Gala fled to the United States, where they remained for nearly a decade.

Dalí’s Life During WWII

During their time in the US, Dalí and Gala split their time evenly between the metropolitan mecca of New York and the beautiful coastal region of Monterey, California. The Surrealist artist’s presence in New York City during these key years proved instrumental in the development of his career, winning him his very own exhibit at the famed Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art and putting him in close contact with distinguished figures who undoubtedly accelerated his fame. The artist’s most famous piece, The Persistence of Memory, resides permanently within the city’s MOMA. Surrealism, as we know it today, would have never gained attention in the United States if it weren’t for Dalí’s presence in New York City.

Even so, it was Monterey’s seaside beauty that truly captured Dalí’s heart. Its coastline, cypress trees, and climate reportedly reminded him of his native home in Catalonia, which served as the inspiration for many of his Surrealist landscapes. The artist’s iconic presence in the Monterey region is celebrated even today. With more than 580 of Dalí’s, Monterey History & Art Association: Salvador Dalí seeks to revive and celebrate the artist’s local history in the area. Together, these works (which include a broad range of lithographs, etching, sculptures and tapestries) also prove the intimate influence that the era’s political climate had on the Dalí’s life and consequentially his body of works.

Surrealism

As with most forms of Surrealist art, Dalí’s work demonstrates a strong and consistent fascination with the element of surprise. Visual non sequitur, bizarre imagery, and near obscenity are recurring elements in all of the artist’s most famous pieces according to the Monterey History & Art Association: Salvador Dalí.

While Surrealism itself began in the mid-1920s, it reached its peak during the Second World War. The movement’s underlying themes of eroticism, socialism, atheism, and the subconscious proved especially controversial given the era’s backdrop of global political unrest. Abiding by the well-known tenant that all publicity is good publicity, the controversial nature of Dalí’s Surrealist work especially set in the historical context of WWII is ultimately what drove the artist’s wild success, cementing him as a prominent influence even in today’s pop culture.

Imagery of WWII in Dalí’s Surrealist Works

Interestingly, the political tensions created by WWII not only served to heighten Dalí’s success; they also manufactured valuable inspirations for many of his most prominent works. During the war, for example, the artist developed a pervasive obsession with Hitler himself, at one point stating, “I often dreamed of Hitler as a woman. His flesh, which I had imagined whiter than white, ravished me…” The painter’s obsession with the dictator ultimately led him to the creation of a number of artistic works, including his 1939 painting The Enigma of Hitler and, much later, the 1973 piece Hitler Masturbating.

Not shockingly, many greeted Dalí’s apparent fascination with Adolf Hitler and Germany’s Nazi Party with revulsion. Even the official Surrealists group which Dalí had been closely affiliated with since the late 1920s publicly denounced the artist, expelling him from the group as a whole.

Regardless, Salvador Dalí’s bold use of fascist imagery manufactured a powerful controversy that ultimately contributed to his long-term success. Furthermore, his wildly influential body of work (much of which can be viewed at the Monterey History & Art Association: Salvador Dalí) contains some of the twentieth century's most iconic artistic pieces.