Salvador Dali

Dada was an artistic and cultural movement that began during World War I in Zurich; and extended to cities like Berlin, Paris and New York City. It mainly impacted literature, graphic design, visual arts and theater. Dadaism has influenced many other artistic styles, including Surrealism and Pop Art. In fact, many artists involved with this movement later became Surrealists.

Dada was a rejection of the evils of war and the oppressive nature of conventional society. Dada artists had a contemptuous, sarcastic attitude toward traditional art forms, social values and contemporary culture. Works from this movement have been described as cryptic, irrational, playful, absurd and instictive; but that was their goal. Dada was supposed to represent the exact opposite of standardized art- the interpretation of the art is up to the viewer.

Salvador Dali and many other Parisian Surrealists were directly involved with or influenced by Dadaism.

Chiaroscuro is originally an Italian artistic technique meaning light (chiaro) and dark (scuro). This style was highly developed by Renaissance painters.

The gradations of light and dark values in two-dimensional imagery; the illusion of rounded, three-dimensional form is created through lighting and shading, rather than a rough line.

Dali employed the use of this technique throught his life; most notably during his religious period.

“My whole ambition in the pictorial domain is to materialize the images of my concrete irrationality with the most imperialist fury of precision…”
“Paranoiac critical activity organizes and objectifies in a exclusivist manner the limitless and unknown possibilities of the systematic association of the subjective and objective ’significance’ in the irrational.”
- Salvador Dali; quote from “La conquete de l’irrational,” 1935

Surrealism is a cultural, social and political movement, according to Andre Breton , that was developed by 20th century writers and artists. Surrealists believe that liberation of the human mind and subsequent liberation of society and the individual can be achieved by exercising the imaginative abilities of the “unconscious mind.” The objective is to the attain a dream-like state different from, or ultimately “truer” than everyday reality. Surrealists trust that this more truthful reality can bring about personal, cultural and social revolution, and a life of freedom, poetry and uninhibited sexuality.

Read more about Surrealist Techniques .

According to Wikipedia, Bulletist or bulletism is an artistic process that involves shooting ink at a blank piece of paper. The result is a type of ink blot. The artist can then develop images based on what is seen. Salvador Dali claimed to have invented this technique. Leonardo da Vinci, however, suggested that “just as one can hear any desired syllable in the sound of a bell, so one can see any desired figure in the shape formed by throwing a sponge with ink against the wall.”