Key Dates – Picasso
1881 Picasso is born
1900 Moves to Paris with Casagemas
1906–7 Beginnings of Cubism (paints Les Demoiselles d’Avignon)
1917 Visits Rome with Cocteau
1937 Paints Guernica
1946 Leaves Paris for the South of France
1973 Picasso dies
Key Dates – Dalí
1904 Dalí is born
1925 First visit to Paris
1934 Marries Gala; first exhibition in Paris
1940–48 Resident in USA
1974 Inauguration of the Teatre Museu Dalí in Figueres
1982 Gala dies
1989 Dalí dies
Overview
“His sickness has created atrocities that are repellent. Every one of his paintings deforms man, his body and his face.” — The Soviet art critic Kemenov on Picasso.
“If my husband would ever meet a woman on the street who looked like the women in his paintings he would fall over in a dead faint.” — Mme Picasso on Picasso.
Whatever view one takes, Pablo Picasso was without doubt one of the most famous, versatile and prolific artists of the 20th century, who provided the incentive for most of the revolutionary changes of the time. An outstanding creative force, the variety and scope of his work is exceptional.
“At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.” — Dalí on Dalí.
Dalí is also one of the most renowned artists of the 20th century. His talent for self-publicity certainly made him the most famous representative of the Surrealist movement. But his status is controversial. Many critics consider that he did little, if anything, of consequence after his classic Surrealist works of the 1930’s.
More than with most other artists, a glimpse of his private life and the circles in which he moved is crucial to an appreciation of his work. It also reads as a “Who’s who” of artistic movements in the 20th century and constitutes, at least, a very colourful story.
Both men are key figures in 20th century art, and their influence can be felt and seen throughout Europe and beyond.
Pablo Picasso — Beginnings, Paris, the Blue and Pink (Rose) Periods
Picasso was born in Málaga and was the son of a painter and drawing master. He was rather precocious (his first word as a baby is said to have been lápiz — pencil) and mastered drawing technique at an early age. At only 15 he was admitted to the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona, and it was in this city that he found an early platform through the influences of his classes at La Llotja, around tables at Els Quatre Gats, and in the company of contemporary artists: Casagemas, Sabartes, Vidal Ventosa and Soto. A clear example of Picasso’s ties with Barcelona was the creation there of the Pablo Picasso Museum — a suggestion of his own — founded by collections donated by Sabartes, Picasso’s friend and personal secretary.
Further Reading
• Life with Picasso, Françoise Gilot and Carlton Lake
• Picasso: His Life and Work, Ronald Penrose
• Picasso in Private, The Observer, Shouts and Murmurs, John Richardson
• The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí, Salvador Dalí
• Gala, Dominique Bona
• www.surrealomania.co.uk
In 1900 Picasso and his friend Casagemas took a studio in Paris recently vacated by the Catalan painter Isidre Nonell. Here he became familiar with impressionist works and grew infatuated with the street life around Montmartre, making many studies of the city’s poor. He was surrounded by difficulty and constantly near starvation, but the most profound effect on the young Picasso was the suicide of his friend Casagemas. These circumstances saw the beginning of the so-called “blue period,” which he would fully develop on his return to Barcelona in 1903–1904. The slightly sentimentalised melancholy of the Blue Period paintings was also inspired by El Greco. The various shades of blue heightened the isolation and despair of these pictures (La Vie, Cleveland Museum of Art, 1903). He also did a number of engravings on a similar theme (The Frugal Repast, 1904).
In 1904 Picasso settled in Paris and became the centre of an avant-garde circle of artists and writers including Apollinaire. He began to attract the attention of connoisseurs such as Leo and Gertrude Stein. The brooding depression of the Blue Period changed to a quiet melancholy, more natural and delicate in its range, with many reddish and pink tones. This is known as the “pink [or rose] period,” and the predominant figures are acrobats and dancers, particularly the harlequin.
Cubism, Ballet, War
Picasso met Matisse in 1906 and admired some aspects of the Fauves, but did not adopt their decorative use of colour. His work often shows little concern for colour, and he preferred to work at night by artificial light.
The period around 1906–07 is sometimes called the “Negro period” due to the influence of African sculpture, though Cézanne was an equally powerful influence. Human figures and surrounding space are reduced to intersecting planes, creating a multiple, dissected view of the world. Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (MOMA, 1906–7) is the best-known result. Its distortions were so radical that the picture remained unexhibited until 1937.
Cubism was developed by Picasso in collaboration with Braque and Gris from 1907 up to WWI. Around 1911 he began introducing scraps of newspaper into his paintings, creating Cubist collage.
In 1917 Picasso went to Rome with Jean Cocteau to design for the ballet Parade, and continued to work for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. This visit to Italy introduced Classicism into his 1920’s work (Mother and Child, 1921). He was also linked with Surrealism at this time, though his structural approach to form conflicted with Surrealist ideology.
The Three Dancers (Tate, 1925) marks the beginning of Picasso’s most violently expressive works. He became obsessed with Minotaur imagery, bullfighting themes, and produced the monumental Guernica (1937), expressing horror at the bombing of the Basque town.
Picasso remained in Paris during the Occupation, then relocated to the South of France in 1946, where he added pottery to his repertoire. His later works often revisited masterpieces of the past, as in his 44 variations on Velázquez’s Las Meninas.
Picasso’s sculpture, though sporadic, is groundbreaking. He made brilliant use of objets trouvés such as in Head of a Bull (1943), constructed from bicycle parts. His graphic work is equally significant.
Picasso’s output — an estimated 20,000 works — is unmatched.
Critical Paranoia
The style Dalí named “critical paranoia” transformed Surrealist automatism into a controlled, deliberate method. One cultivates genuine delusion while retaining a small awareness of reality — a method Dalí believed should apply to daily life.
His 1930s paintings are “hand-painted dream photographs,” with meticulous technique and unreal dream spaces. Recurring images include open-drawer bodies, burning giraffes, and melting watches (The Persistence of Memory, 1931).
Salvador Dalí — Beginnings, Gala, the Surrealists
Dalí was born in Figueres and divided his childhood between there and Cadaquès. He began Fine Arts studies in Madrid in 1922, forming friendships with Lorca, Buñuel and members of the Generation of ’27. Buñuel later introduced him to the Paris Surrealists, and the pair collaborated on the key Surrealist films Un Chien Andalou and L’Age d’Or.
Dalí’s relationship with the San Fernando Academy was turbulent, and he was suspended for inciting rebellion, then expelled for refusing to take his exams.
In 1929 two life-changing events occurred: his meeting Gala Eluard in Cadaquès — who became his muse, manager and eventually wife — and his introduction to the Surrealists. His father disapproved of the Gala relationship, leading to a decades-long estrangement.
Dalí and Gala moved to a shack in Port Lligat, where he produced paintings to support them. Themes relating to his father appear throughout his early Surrealist works.
Expulsion, Politics, Fame
In 1934 Dalí was expelled from the Surrealist group. Reasons included his adoption of a more classical style influenced by Italian painters, his fascination with Hitler, and his support for Franco. Breton mock-tried and expelled him.
Despite this, Dalí continued to exhibit in Surrealist shows until 1940, when he and Gala fled on a transatlantic passage paid for by Picasso. They remained in the USA until 1948, staging publicity stunts and contributing to projects such as Hitchcock’s Spellbound.
After 1948 he lived mainly in Port Lligat but also spent time in Paris and New York. His late works include religious paintings such as The Crucifixion of St John of the Cross (1951) and The Last Supper, as well as graphic work, jewellery and book illustrations.
Dalí’s eccentricity and megalomania became central to his public persona.
Later Life and Death
After the opening of his Teatre Museu Dalí in 1974, his output diminished. Gala died in 1982 and was buried at the castle of Púbol. Dalí, in deep depression after her death, died in 1989 and was buried in the crypt of his museum in Figueres. His will donated his entire fortune to the Spanish state.
The Teatre Museu in Figueres, his house at Port Lligat, and the castle at Púbol are all open to the public. The fishing village of Cadaquès remains mostly unchanged. There is also a Dalí museum in St. Petersburg, Florida.