Page 57 - Demo

EARLY LIFEDal%u00ed was born Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dal%u00ed y Domenech on May 11, 1904, in Figueres, Spain, located 16 miles from the French border in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains. His father, Salvador Dal%u00ed y Cusi, was a middle-classlawyer and notary. Dal%u00ed%u2019s father had a strict disciplinary approach to raising children%u2014a style of child-rearing which contrasted sharply with that of his mother, Felipa Domenech Ferres. She often indulged young Dal%u00ed in his art and early eccentricities.It has been said that young Dal%u00ed was a precocious and intelligent child, prone to fits of anger against his parents and schoolmates. Consequently, Dal%u00ed was subjected to furious acts of cruelty by more dominant students or his father. The elder Dal%u00ed wouldn%u2019t tolerate his son%u2019s outbursts or eccentricities and punished him severely. Their relationship deteriorated when Dal%u00ed was still young, exacerbated by competition between he and his father for Felipa%u2019s affection. Dal%u00ed had an older brother, born nine months before him, also named Salvador, who died of gastroenteritis. Later in his life, Dal%u00ed often related the story that when he was 5 years old, his parents took him to the grave of his older brother and told him he was his brother%u2019s reincarnation. In the metaphysical prose he frequently used, Dal%u00ed recalled, %u201c[we] resembled each other like two drops of water, but we had different reflections.%u201d He %u201cwas probably a first version of myself, but conceived too much in the absolute.%u201d Dal%u00ed, along with his younger sister Ana Maria and his parents, often spent time at their summer home in the coastal village of Cadaques. At an early age, Dal%u00ed was producing highly sophisticated drawings, and both of his parents strongly supported his artistic talent. It was here that his parents built him an art studio before he entered art school.Upon recognizing his immense talent, Dal%u00ed%u2019s parents sent him to drawing school at the Colegio de Hermanos Maristas and the Instituto in Figueres, Spain, in 1916. He was not a serious student, preferring to daydream inclass and stand out as the class eccentric, wearing odd clothing and long hair. After that first year at art school, he discovered modern painting in Cadaques while vacationing with his family. There, he also met Ramon Pichot, a local artist who frequently visited Paris. The following year, his father organized an exhibition of Dal%u00ed%u2019s charcoal drawings in the family home. By 1919, the young artist had his first public exhibition, at the Municipal Theatre of Figueres.In 1921, Dal%u00ed%u2019s mother, Felipa, died of breast cancer. Dal%u00ed was 16 years old at the time and was devastated by the loss. His father married his deceased wife%u2019s sister, which did not endear the younger Dal%u00ed any closer to his father, though he respected his aunt. Father and son would battle over many different issues throughout their lives, until the elder Dal%u00ed%u2019s death.Salvador Dal%u00edMOST MAGAZINE - ISSUE 40 57