Page 62 - Demo
P. 62


                                    Expulsion from the SurrealistsAs war approached in Europe, specifically in Spain, Dal%u00ed clashed with members of the Surrealist movement. In a %u201ctrial%u201d held in 1934, he was expelled from the group. He had refused to take a stance against Spanish militant Francisco Franco (while Surrealist artists like Luis Bu%u00f1uel, Picasso and Mir%u00f3 had), but it%u2019s unclear whether this directly led to his expulsion. Officially, Dal%u00ed was notified that his expulsion was due to repeated %u201ccounter-revolutionary activity involving the celebration of fascism under Adolf Hitler.%u201d It is also likely that members of the movement were aghast at some of Dal%u00ed%u2019s public antics. However, some art historians believe that his expulsion had been driven more by his feud with Surrealist leader Andr%u00e9 Breton.Despite his expulsion from the movement, Dal%u00ed continued to participate in several international Surrealist exhibitions into the 1940s. At the opening of the London Surrealist exhibition in 1936, he delivered a lecture titled %u201cFantomes paranoiaques athentiques%u201d (%u201cAuthentic paranoid ghosts%u201d) while dressed in a wetsuit, carrying a billiard cue and walking a pair of Russian wolfhounds. He later said that his attire was a depiction of %u201cplunging into the depths%u201d of the human mind.During World War II, Dal%u00ed and his wife moved to the United States. They remained there until 1948, when they moved back to his beloved Catalonia. These were important years for Dal%u00ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York gave him his own retrospective exhibit in 1941. This was followed by the publication of his autobiography, The Secret Life of Salvador Dal%u00ed (1942). Also during this time, Dal%u00ed%u2019s focus moved away from Surrealism and into his classical period. His feud with members of the Surrealist movement continued, but Dal%u00ed seemed undaunted. His ever-expanding mind had ventured into new subjects.Final YearsIn 1980, Dal%u00ed was forced to retire from painting due to a motor disorder that caused permanent trembling and weakness in his hands. No longer able to hold a paint brush, he%u2019d lost the ability to express himself the way he knew best. More tragedy struck in 1982, when Dal%u00ed%u2019s beloved wife and friend, Gala, died. The two events sent him into a deep depression. He moved to Pubol, in a castle that he had purchased and remodeled for Gala, possibly to hide from the public or, as some speculate, to die. In 1984, Dal%u00ed was severely burned in a fire. Due to his injuries, he was confined to wheelchair. Friends, patrons and fellow artists rescued him from the castle and returned him to Figueres, making him comfortable at the Teatro-Museo.In November 1988, Dal%u00ed entered a hospital in Figueres with a failing heart. After a brief convalescence, he returned to the Teatro-Museo. On January 23, 1989, in the city of his birth, Dal%u00ed died of heart failure at the age of 84.His funeral was held at the Teatro-Museo, where he was buried in a crypt.62 MOST MAGAZINE - ISSUE 40
                                
   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66