[Applause] you've probably been to a Halloween party where someone came dressed up as Salvador Dary and everybody knew who he was right but how did this famous surrealist artist become so iconic and so easily recognizable and was Dary really this big artistic genius or was he just a gifted performer and businessman let's find out [Music] if you would like to see more episodes about art on this channel be sure to give us a like and tell us which topic you want to learn about next Salvador Dary died on the 23rd of January in 1989 at
the age of 84 in his hometown called figueras during his long and prolific career he managed to provoke Intrigue Fascinate and make many many different artworks but darly also worked on building a fascinating public Persona through which he earned money with his signature thin and spiky mustache to which he even dedicated a photo book named dar's mustache the surrealist artist created an emblematic image of himself that would help him become globally famous to many this image we have of darly still represents the idea of a Mad genius artist the crazy and irrational but talented one
but did darly think he was crazy during an interview for the program called this hour has seven days Dar said the following Dar is almost crazy but the only difference between one crazy people and B is the is not crazy well you wouldn't expect to hear a regular answer from a surrealist would you Salvador Dary became known for many things his eccentric style the weird art objects he made like the lobster telephone and the couch inspired by May West's lips or his surrealist paintings that aim to explore the unconscious side of the mind he even
designed the logo for a famous lollipop brand called choa Chups the famous Spaniard Illustrated Dante's Divine Comedy cervantes's Don kote Carol's Alice in Wonderland and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet he even collaborated with Walt Disney on a short film called Destino in 1945 the unconventional artists starred in numerous commercials promoting things from Ala Seltzer to lamb van chocolates he also wrote a surrealist cookbook bought a castle for his wife Gala and came up with his own theater Museum that was inaugurated in 1974 in his Spanish Hometown Dary really did it all he was invited to American
television shows like the famous What's My Line program or the dick cavat show in which he appeared wearing a velvet suit and his trademark cane bringing an actual anteater along with him even during his younger days Dary was an eccentric person he believed that he was a reincarnation of his deceased older brother whom he was named after he also knew how to make an entrance in 1936 the Spanish artist gave a lecture in London dressed in a diving suit and he almost suffocated while wearing it and in 1955 he came to a lecture in Paris
driving a Rolls-Royce limousine that was filled with cauliflower taking all of this into account it is safe to say that darly was a natural performer always a bit quirky and unpredictable Salvador Dary became an artist who was also a celebrity in short he created a brand out of himself but was Salvador Dary really this big artistic genius well he certainly thought he was the artist even called himself the biggest Genius of the modern times in his autobiography titled The Secret Life of Salvador Dary the surrealist artist wrote that he had the unmistakable facial morphology of
a genius Dary also mentioned that Gala his longtime Muse immediately considered him a genius one who was half mad however in his other autobiography the artist made his opinion of himself even clearer he called this written piece of work a Diary of a genius not very modest indeed don't you think one thing is for certain though darly was a multimedia artist and a skillful painter he could draw or paint almost anything let's have a look at his take on the famous mythological figure of narcissus you know the one who became obsessed with himself dar's surrealist
version of the myth is called the metamorphosis of Narcissus the painting shows narcissus Double Image crouching and looking at his Reflection In The Water the head of one of the two figures that we see here looks like an egg from which a flower named after narcissus grows while the second narcissus head looks like a cracked Walnut Dary also wrote a poem to accompany the painting narcissus is known for falling in love with his own image so could darly have identified with this ancient myth maybe it certainly doesn't sound to totally impossible Dary even brought the
metamorphosis of narcissus with him when he went to meet Sigman Freud for the first time after numerous failed attempts the famous Austrian psychoanalysts theories and books served as a great source of inspiration for many surrealist artists darly included this unusual pair finally met in London in July of 1938 and during the meeting Dary created numerous sketches of Freud the Spanish artist obviously cared deeply about what he wore and how he presented himself in public but he also wanted to try his luck in fashion as a Creator and collaborator together with his friend Ela scaparelli Dary
designed a dress inspired by his obsession with lobsters which he saw as symbols of sexuality so in 1937 a piece of fashion history called the lobster dinner dress was born scaparelli and Dary also created the famous tears dress that was part of Elsa scaparelli 1938 circus collection the pink black and magenta tears that were printed onto the dress were designed by darly himself inspired by one of the dresses seen on a female figure in his 1936 painting called three young surrealist women holding in their arms the skins of an orchestra together the two flamboyant figures
also created quirky pieces like the skeleton dress and the famous black shoe hat in a way scaparelli and Dary became one of the pioneers of fascinating collaborations between artists and fashion designers that still exist today Dary turned to Fashion once again when he designed multiple covers of Vogue magazine during the late 1930s and the early 1940s the 1939 junee cover of Vogue shows one of his famous motifs seen in his paintings a woman whose surreal head is fully made out of [Music] flowers Salvador Dary certainly has an important place in the history of pop culture
of the 20th century the artist helped make surrealism widely known by using his bombastic public Persona that along with his trademark mustache remains recognizable to this day pointed mystical mustache when people think of surrealism they often think of darly himself the artist's bizarre behavior might be just as famous as his actual works of art what do you think of Salvador Dary was he really a genius or was it all a carefully created Persona that he came up with could it be both let us us know in the comments below and don't forget to subscribe to
us on YouTube and Instagram for your regular dose of culture from Curious Muse also if you haven't been to our website curious m.org that's a good time to check it out there you will find online courses free downloads and more great stuff for the culturally curious and see you next time [Music] butterly
