Dali. The Paintings

At the age of six, Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) wanted to be a chef. At seven, he wanted to be Napoleon. "Since then," he later said, "my ambition has grown steadily, and with it my delusions of grandeur. Now I only want to be Salvador Dalí, I have no greater desire." All his life, Dalí wanted to become Dalí: that is, one of the most important artists and eccentrics of the 20th century.

The voluminous coffee-table book 'Dali. The Paintings' by TASCHEN is the most complete study of Dalí's painted works ever published. After years of research, Robert Descharnes and Gilles Néret found painted works by the master that were inaccessible for years - so much so that nearly half of the illustrations in this book appear in public for the first time.

More than a catalogue raisonné, this book contextualizes Dalí's oeuvre and its meanings by examining contemporary documents, from writings and drawings to material from other facets of his work, including ballet, film, fashion, advertising and objets d'art.

The study is divided into two parts: the first examines Dalí's beginnings as an unknown artist. We see how the young Dalí deployed all the isms--pressionism, pointillism, cubism, fauvism, purism and futurism--with playful mastery and how he borrowed from prevailing trends only to ridicule and abandon them. The second volume reveals the conclusions of Dalí's lifelong research and the great legacy he left behind in works such as Tuna Fishing (1966/67) or Hallucinogenic Toreador (1970). It includes previously unpublished homages to Velázquez or Michelangelo, painted for the same purpose as the variations on earlier masters by his contemporary Picasso.

Specifications
Title: Dali. The Paintings
Author: Robert Descharnes and Gilles Néret
Publisher: TASCHEN
Size: 268 x 220 x 65 mm
Size: 752 pages
Weight: 3456 grams
Language: English
Material: Hardcover
ISBN: 9783836576246