Salvador Dali, something of a sorcerer

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HE DIDN’T DO DRUGS

"While Dalí’s surreal artwork and eccentric behavior may have you think otherwise, the artist did not use any chemical substances to alter his state. In fact, he once famously stated, “I don’t do drugs, I am drugs.” To spur his creativity, in the early 1930s he developed something called the paranoiac-critical method. This allowed him to access his subconscious and was a major contribution to the Surrealist movement. One way he kept himself in a dreamlike state included staring fixedly at a particular object until it transformed into another form, sparking a sort of hallucination.

HE HAD AN UNCONVENTIONAL MARRIAGE

By the 1950s, Gala (his wife) was publicly engaged in extramarital affairs, though it’s said that Dalí encouraged this. And in 1969, when Dalí purchased her a Catalan castle in Púbol, it was specified that he could visit her there only if invited in writing. Throughout their lives, there’s no doubt they shared an intense and cerebral love. He wrote, “I would polish Gala to make her shine, make her the happiest possible, caring for her more than myself, because without her, it would all end.”

HE TRICKED YOKO ONO

Always up for a prank, some consider Dalí a bit of a con man. Close friend and muse Amanda Lear recalls how he once duped Yoko Ono, selling her a blade of grass for $10,000. Apparently, Ono had asked Dalí to sell him a strand of hair from his infamous mustache. Not one to turn down a check, he got creative.

“Dali thought that Yoko Ono was a witch and might use it in a spell. He didn’t want to send her a personal item, much less one of his hairs,” Lear explained. “So he sent me to the garden to find a dry blade of grass, and sent it off in a nice presentation box. The idiot paid 10,000 dollars for it. It amused him to rip people off.”"

(and he also exhibited odd political beliefs, his infatuation with fascism being the prime example)

source

HE COLLABORATED WITH DISNEY

In 1946, Salvador Dalí and Disney designer John Hench worked on an animated film together called Destino. Dalí created 22 oil paintings and countless drawings that Hench then turned into film storyboards. However, just 8 months in, the work stopped due to financial reasons and the film was left unfinished, with only 15 seconds of demo reel completed.

In 1999, Walt Disney’s nephew and longtime senior executive for The Walt Disney Company, Roy E. Disney, decided to revive the production of Destino. The finished, 6-minute short was released in 2003 and tells the story of a ballerina on a surreal journey through a desert landscape

Salvador Dali - Destino. Walt Disney (2003)

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2

Yeah don’t know where the clip is but he talks specifically about hypnagogia and how his paintings are inspired by the visions you get whilst half way between awake and sleeping.

3

His behavioral antics, not-doings, also would have engaged unused emanations. Enriching his artistic work, by subtly shifting his assemblage point.

4

yes but he lost intent at some point .and he had a very big idea about himself . I do art and is very really dificult to be a pure conduit for the spirit. I really prefer oskar kokoschka I suggest take look at him . he also mention magic experiences through his life and he was way more humble .

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He worked with Mexican sorcerer Alejandro Jodorowsky to con millions of dollars from Hollywood. He was hired to play a role in Dune and spent a year or two living on the producers money in Paris.

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Sorcerer may be a little much, but Jodorowsky’s definitely an interesting cat!

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Yeah, humility itself was :alien: to Dali.

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He was nicknamed “ávida dollars” (eager for dollars) by the surrealist movement who denounced him for his fascist and nazi admiration.

I think he was more of an opportunist with a huge/ unrefined ego rather than a sorcerer.

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In his later years he pretty much dialed it in, and became an imitation of himself to keep the moolah rolling in.

Apart from the major character flaws he did, at one time at least, offer a temporary example of living outside the social order while still appropriating it’s resources.

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“I don’t do drugs, I am drugs” - I believe that. I went to the Dali museum on a very heavy dose of shrooms and they were literally like 3D glasses specifically made for the art. That’s the only way I can describe it.