Depuis ma plus tendre enfance, j’ai la vicieuse
tournure d’esprit de me considérer comme différent du commun des mortels.
Cela aussi est en train de me réussir.
*
Les ânes voudraient que j’observe pour moi-même
les conseils que je proclame pour les autres. C’est impossible puisque moi
je suis complètement différent…
Salvador Dali, Journal d’un génie
Le fait que moi-même, au moment de peindre, je ne
comprenne pas la signification de mes tableaux, ne veut pas dire que ces
tableaux n’ont aucune signification: au contraire leur signification est
tellement profonde, complexe, cohérente, involontaire, qu’elle échappe à
la simple analyse de l’intuition logique.
Salvador Dali, Oui
I’ve always liked Dali’s work, but I can’t imagine what he was thinking
when painting. Some of his works mean nothing to me, mere images, and
some speak of wonders untold. I find that with much art, its significance
and importance is a purely subjective matter, justifiable only by the one
observing.
the core of Dali’s work is the “paranoiac-critical method”. Basically, it
has to do with producing meaning out of “nothing”.
Once you’ve grasped that, things become a lot easier to understand.
There are a certain number of “obsessions” in his paintings and writings
(soft figures, grasshoppers, l’Angélus, rhino horns, etc, etc.) And they
are “set up” in such a way as to create coherence – when there is
coherence only in Dali’s mind.
He’s one of my exam subjects in French. First I read his writing, and
thought “oh gosh. What does that mean?” Then I spent a couple of days
staring at his paintings. Then I went back to the texts, and things
started falling into place.
I've always liked Dali's work, but I can't imagine what he was thinking
when painting. Some of his works mean nothing to me, mere images, and
some speak of wonders untold. I find that with much art, its significance
and importance is a purely subjective matter, justifiable only by the one
observing.