Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marquis of Púbol (May 11, 1904 — January 23, 1989), was a Spanish surrealist painter born in Figueres, Catalonia.

Dalí was a skilled draftsman, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work. His painterly skills are often attributed to the influence of Renaissance masters.His best known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in 1931.

Salvador Dalí’s artistic repertoire also included film, sculpture, and photography. He collaborated with Walt Disney on the Academy Award-nominated short cartoon Destino, which was released posthumously in 2003. He also collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock on Hitchcock’s film Spellbound.

Dalí insisted on his “Arab lineage”, claiming that his ancestors were descended from the Moors who occupied Southern Spain for nearly 800 years (711-1492), and attributed to these origins, “my love of everything that is gilded and excessive, my passion for luxury and my love of oriental clothes.”

Widely considered to be greatly imaginative, Dalí had an affinity for doing unusual things to draw attention to himself. This sometimes irked those who loved his art as much as it annoyed his critics, since his eccentric manner sometimes drew more public attention than his artwork. The purposefully-sought notoriety led to broad public recognition and many purchases of his works by people from all walks of life.

Symbolism

Dalí employed extensive symbolism in his work. For instance, the hallmark soft watches that first appear in The Persistence of Memory suggest Einstein’s theory that time is relative and not fixed.The idea for clocks functioning symbolically in this way came to Dalí when he was staring at a runny piece of Camembert cheese during a hot day in August.

The elephant is also a recurring image in Dalí’s works. It first appeared in his 1944 work Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening. The elephants, inspired by Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s sculpture base in Rome of an elephant carrying an ancient obelisk,are portrayed “with long, multi-jointed, almost invisible legs of desire” along with obelisks on their backs. Coupled with the image of their brittle legs, these encumbrances, noted for their phallic overtones, create a sense of phantom reality. “The elephant is a distortion in space,” one analysis explains, “its spindly legs contrasting the idea of weightlessness with structure.”… I am painting pictures which make me die for joy, I am creating with an absolute naturalness, without the slightest aesthetic concern, I am making things that inspire me with a profound emotion and I am trying to paint them honestly. —Salvador Dalí, in Dawn Ades, Dalí and Surrealism.

The egg is another common Dalíesque image. He connects the egg to the prenatal and intrauterine, thus using it to symbolize hope and love;it appears in The Great Masturbator and The Metamorphosis of Narcissus. Various animals appear throughout his work as well: ants point to death, decay, and immense sexual desire; the snail is connected to the human head (he saw a snail on a bicycle outside Freud’s house when he first met Sigmund Freud); and locusts are a symbol of waste and fear.

Dalí was a versatile artist, not limiting himself only to painting in his artistic endeavors. Some of his more popular artistic works are sculptures and other objects, and he is also noted for his contributions to theatre, fashion, and photography, among other areas.

Arts and Crafts Idea:  Foam Sheet Glasses Case

Are you a camp director, teacher, or homeschool mom looking for a new arts and crafts idea for your kids?  Or maybe you are a recreation director at a senior center or nursing home and could use a new project.  Either way, this arts and crafts idea will be interesting and fun for all.  This glass case can be used, given as a gift, or converted into a necklace purse.

To make the glasses case, you will need the following simple materials:  a square of craft foam, plastic or large blunt needles, lanyard lace or thick yarn.  Cut two rectangles from the foam, each 3-1/2 inches (9 cm.) by 6 inches (15 cm.).  With a hole punch, make holes on three sides of each rectangle, leaving one short side unpunched.  Make the holes 1/2 inch apart and allow at least 1/4 inch between the hole and the edge of the craft foam.  The holes need to line up so that the two pieces can be laced together.  If you are preparing the craft for small children, you should make the holes yourself.  Otherwise, the crafters can do this step if you have enough pairs of hole punches.

At this point the crafters can cut decorative shapes from other colors of craft foam, or you can buy sets of ready-cut foam shapes.  If you are doing the craft at a special event, like vacation Bible school, choose shapes that echo the theme of the event.  For instance, if the Bible school or camp has a cowboy theme, find shapes that fit well, such as boots, cowboy hats, and stars.  Let the kids choose the shapes they like and glue on as desired.  You might also like to provide beads or sequins to glue on as well, especially if the crafters are a little older.

The next step in this arts and crafts idea is to thread the plastic needle with the yarn or lanyard lace.  Yarn might be a little easier to handle, but lanyard lace is shiny and attractive.  In a pinch, some teachers of small children use a bobby pin as a needle.  It is certainly a safe alternative.  Simply loop the yarn through the opening and use the open end of the bobby pin as if it were the point of the needle.  The children can now begin to lace the front and back of the glasses case together.

To turn this arts and crafts idea into a necklace purse, simply attach a piece of lanyard lace to each corner making a long handle.  Kids will enjoy using this case as a place to store secret notes and small objects.  If they’d rather, they can give the glasses case to a parent, grandparent, or friend who wears glasses.  Either way, this arts and crafts idea will be interesting for all.