Image via Complex Original
Salvador Dalí is most famous for his surrealist landscape paintings of scenes too good to be true. A true Renaissance man, he also dabbled in many other mediums such as cinema, sculpture, fashion design, and writing. He approached everything he did in life, from art to interviews to facial hair, in an equally individualistic way. His eccentricity earned him a reputation as a genius, a lunatic, and a gimmick, though he didn't seem to really care about what anyone thought of him. He is remembered as one of the greatest and most intriguing artists to have ever lived.
Today, May 11, would have been Dalí's 110th birthday. We imagine that he is in heaven at this moment constructing a cake made out of carpet squares and tuna, or blowing out candles made of lead. Today we revisit his life and achievements to bring you 15 Reasons Salvador Dalí Was The Man.
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He was fascinated by the rhinoceros and saw its horn as a symbol of perfect geometry.
Dalí's interests spanned beyond the world of arts and culture and into science and mathematics, as well. He developed an obsession with rhinoceros horns, because they grow in a perfect logarithmic spiral. This interest is first evident in his 1954 painting Rhinocerotic Figure of Ilissos of Phidias.
He collaborated with fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli.
Schiaparelli was known within the fashion world as a nonconformist; it makes sense that she and Dalí hit it off. The most famous results of their collaboration include a lobster gown and a shoe hat.
In his most scandalous photo shoot, he arranged seven naked women into the shape of a skull.
In Voluptas Mors is a striking photograph created as a result of Dalí's collaboration with photographer Philippe Halsman.
He liked to draw and paint in the bathtub.
On a trip to California in 1944, Salvador Dalí set up a temporary workspace in the bathtub of his hotel room. He chose the tight workspace for "protection." (Or so he said.)
He dabbled in filmmaking and produced the short film Un Chien Andalou.
As it turns out, Dalí was just as enigmatic with his filmmaking as he was with his painting. He collaborated with Luis Buñuel to produce the 1928 silent film, Un Chien Andalou, which has no conventional plot structure, but instead follows a dream-like narrative with its fair share of disturbing moments (its most famous scene depicts an eyeball being cut open). The film's dark imagery paved the way for the horror movie genre.
Millionaire Cummins Catherwood commissioned him to design a line of jewelry that is now known as the Dalí-Joies or Dalí-Jewels.
The most famous piece in the collection is The Royal Heart, which is mechanically structured to beat like a real heart. The jewels are currently in a permanent exhibition at the Dalí Theatre and Museum in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain.
He engineered crazy photographic effects that preceded the existence of Photoshop.
Before the age of copy and paste, layers, and anchor points, Dalí was constructing surrealist scenes in his studio teeming with mayhem. For this photograph, which took 28 takes to capture, he used furniture hung from wires, buckets of water, black cats, and one unfortunate assistant.
He had the best pets.
Dalí took advantage of his fame and wealth in odd ways: he realized that any animal could, however unreasonably, still be a pet. He had a pet ocelot named Babou that he brought with him everywhere on a leash. At another point in his life, he had a pet anteater that he sometimes walked with in Paris.
He used extreme methods to capture his weirdest dreams for inspiration.
In the world of artists and their neurotic creative processes, Dalí takes the cake. He went to great lengths to capture moments when his subconscious was most active. For instance, he would have an assistant dab perfume onto his eyelids while he slept in order to stimulate crazy dreams. Another trick of his was to doze off in a chair while he held a spoon above a metal plate. The sound of the spoon falling would jolt him awake instantly, and he would quickly record his dreams.
He had a great sense of interior design.
A true jack of all trades, Dalí dabbled in interior design, bringing his imaginative twist to furniture design. He sketched ideas for various pieces, including a sofa inspired by a pair of pouting lips, with Jean-Michel Frank. In the 1990s, a team of designers produced the furniture depicted in Dalí's sketches.
He collaborated with Walt Disney.
When Walt Disney was being accused of selling out, he turned to his artistic roots and began incorporating surrealism into his productions. The result was Fantasia. Next, Disney approached Salvador Dalí to co-produce a film called Destino. They never completed the project, but they did remain life-long friends (and Disney's nephew, Roy, produced the film years later, using Dalí's original notes and sketches.)
He had the world's most famous mustache.
In a 2010 poll, 24% of participants voted Dalí's facial hair to be the most recognizable. When asked if his moustache was a joke, he responded, "It is the most serious part of my personality." His crazy mustache has become a symbol of artistic creativity.
He was friends with many celebrities, including Coco Chanel and Alice Cooper.
Among his many titles, socialite reigns supreme, with a coterie including Alice Cooper, Mia Farrow, and Coco Chanel. Dalí's exclusive circle of friends comprised the crème de la crème of an era.
He painted cover art for popular magazines.
Dali's work graced the covers of Vogue on four occasions. Over the span of 40 years, his surrealist artworks brought together art and fashion lovers alike. He also once painted the cover art of TV Guide for an issue that included an interview with him about television.
He was his own number one biggest fan.
The number one reason that Salvador Dali was the man is his amazing attitude. He once said, "Every morning upon awakening, I experience a supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dalí, and I ask myself, wonderstruck, what prodigious thing will he do today, this Salvador Dalí."
His self-assurance and lack of regard for the opinions of others resulted in some zany antics. For instance, he once delivered a lecture in full scuba gear, and another time, he drove down the street in a car filled with cauliflower. Dalí's carefree approach freed him from insecurity and allowed him to create the art for which he is so famous.