London’s Freud Museum is Honoring Freud-Dali Connection
By Paul Chimera
Salvador Dali Historian
Dali jokingly proclaimed, “There’s never a dully moment with Dali!” The man had a great sense of humor, even if that particular one-liner could have benefited from some support from his iconic crutches.
There’s also never a moment when Dali isn’t in the news. Or so it seems. People often ask me, “How are you able to write regularly about an artist who’s been dead for nearly 30 years now?” The answer is simple: Dali is more popular than ever before!
He’s certainly more collectible than ever. His prices at auction have steadily risen over the years since his passing on January 23, 1989 at age 84. His prints are in high demand.
Exhibitions of his work continue to be held all across the globe, invariably shattering attendance records. And while some of them are retrospectives that take a broad measure of Dali’s enormous contributions to the history of art, others home in on quite specific aspects of the man’s life and work, permitting a careful examination of fascinating details.
One such exhibition is on now at the Freud Museum in London: Freud, Dali and the Metamorphosis of Narcissus (October 3, 2018 – February 24, 2019). Curated by Dawn Ades, it explores the connection between Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis; and Salvador Dali, the kingpin of Surrealism. As the museum’s website notes, these men were two of the most influential figures of the 20th century. And this year marks the 80th anniversary of their famed meeting on July 19, 1938 in London.
Dali brought with him his truly incredible oil on canvas, The Metamorphosis of Narcissus, which is of course the core image on which the Freud Museum special exhibition is based. The painting’s on loan from London’s Tate Museum. And visiting Freud inspired Dali to execute several interesting sketches of him — whose cranium Dali likened to that of a snail’s shell! Freud declared that Dali was a “complete example of a Spaniard — what a fanatic!” But added that he, Freud, was now reevaluating his view of the Surrrealists after meeting and appreciating his special mustachioed guest, and greatly admiring the double-image painting about narcissism he brought along with him.
I was fortunate to have seen this remarkable work some years back at, as I recall, the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, to which it was on loan. It is quite simply one of the greatest paintings – ever!
And one of the most important pieces of writing ever was Freud’s seminal book, Interpretation of Dreams, which Dali read voraciously and which went a long way in propelling Dali’s surrealistic symbolism.
Not only did Dali’s Metamorphosis of Narcissus painting inspire the present exhibition at the Freud, but it gave rise to the eponymous book, seen here, which featured a poem written by Dali.
SPEAKING OF BOOKS . . .
You could take so many individual Dali paintings alone – such as Metamorphosis of Narcissus and certainly The Persistence of Memory – and be confident it would have ensured him a place in art history. But even if Dali had never picked up a paint brush, his prodigious writing would have etched his name in the halls of history’s geniuses.
It suddenly occurs to me just how prolific a writer Dali was. In addition to his many essays and articles and even manifestos, consider this astounding list (still only partial) of books he penned:
Babaouo
The Conquest of the Irrational
The Tragic Myth of Millet’s Angelus
Hidden Faces (novel)
Metamorphosis of Narcissus
The Secret Life of Salvador Dali
Dali on Modern Art
Fifty Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship
Dali’s Mustache
Manifest Mystique
Open Letter to Salvador Dali
Diary of a Genius
Dali by Dali
The Unspeakable Confessions of Salvador Dali
Les Diners de Gala
Le Wines of Gala
If that’s not genius, my friends, I don’t know what is.
(Images used under Fair Use provisions for journalistic purposes only)