Dalí: The Paintings: 1904-1989

From the Publisher: The Seminal Surrealist

The most comprehensive study of Salvador Dalí's painted works to date has been undertaken. After years of meticulous research, Robert Descharnes and Gilles Néret have located previously inaccessible works that epitomize Dalí's depictions of the subconscious and its peculiar workings. This lavish edition features updated captions and contextualizes Dalí's paintings with his own writings, drawings, and archival material, making it the essential reference on his painted oeuvre.

The Essential Reference on Salvador Dalí's Painted Oeuvre

This substantial volume is the most complete study of Dalí's painted works ever published. After years of dedicated research, Robert Descharnes and Gilles Néret have uncovered a wealth of painted works by the master that had been inaccessible for years – so many, in fact, that nearly half of the featured illustrations appear in public for the first time in this book.

More than a mere catalogue raisonné, this book contextualizes Dalí's oeuvre and its meanings by examining contemporary documents, from writings and drawings to material from other facets of his work, including ballet, cinema, fashion, advertising, and objets d'art. Without these supporting analyses, the paintings would simply be a series of images.

Dalí's Lifelong Pursuit of Becoming Dalí

At the age of six, Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) aspired to be a cook. By the age of seven, his ambitions had shifted to becoming Napoleon. "Since then," he later remarked, "my ambition has steadily grown, and my megalomania with it. Now I want only to be Salvador Dalí, I have no greater wish." Throughout his life, Dalí was driven to become the embodiment of Dalí – one of the most significant artists and eccentrics of the 20th century.

The study is divided into two parts: the first examines Dalí's beginnings as an unknown artist. We witness how the young Dalí deftly employed various "isms" – Impressionism, Pointillism, Cubism, Fauvism, Purism, and Futurism – with playful mastery, borrowing from prevailing trends before ridiculing and abandoning them.

The second part unveils the conclusions of Dalí's lifelong inquiries, as well as the remarkable legacy he left in works such as Tuna Fishing (1966/67) and Hallucinogenic Toreador (1970). It includes previously unpublished homages to Velázquez and Michelangelo, painted with the same intent as the variations on past masters done by his contemporary, Picasso.

product information: