Elephants, Eroticisms, Ego

For most anyone who knows me, even just a little, it is a basic truth that Sam Loves Salvador Dali. You enter my room at home to large poster of The metamorphosis of Narcissus and The Persistence of Memory. My room at U of T greets you with Elephants and a Dali calendar. I did my final project for French on Dali's life. I did a photography project on Philippe Halsman just because he took very famous photographs of Dali. You can easily say that I am obsessed.

So it isn't suprising that I have chosen to study Dali for my Shocking Artists, Shocking Art course. In my defense, this is not out of laziness. I plan to delve into this with much more enthusiasm than I would with any other artist. Today I spent nearly three hours researching various artists in an effort to branch out, but I find them unengaging. Every sketch of Dali's, every sculpture and painting can easily preoccupy me for an hour without me being aware that time is passing (disintegrating clocks indeed).

I have chosen to focus on Dali's eroticism, and potentially his blasphemy. I have not explored this particular aspect that closely, as of yet. Partially because Dali is so explicit, and as you all know, it can be difficult to approach such subject matter openly. I think that my classmates and the sheer structure of the project will create a forum in which it isn't awkward to say 'erection', 'masturbation', 'fantasy' etc etc. Also, I think it may be the only time I will discuss Freud without visibly twitching. A lot of Dali's erotic work is a take on Freudian concepts, even sometimes a shot at them.

To inspire all of you, and maybe to give you a clue about what the hell I am talking about I thought I provide a link to some of Dali's more shocking work. If you don't understand what is shocking or interesting about it, but you would like to, let me know. Nothing makes me happier than talking about my Salvador.


Freud’s Perverse Polymorph (Bulgarian Child Eating a Rat), 1939

Female Seated Nude, 1960

Explosion of Faith in a Cathedral, 1974

Face of War

Lugubrious Game, 1929

Young Virgin Auto-Sodomized by Her Own Chastity, 1954