Salvador Dali is probably the artist who first comes to mind for most when they hear the word "surrealist." There's some irony to that. Andre Breton, the leader of the first Surrealist group, expelled him early on. And Dali himself considered himself more of a Classical artist. But his eccentricities have something to say about it. He couldn't help but be surreal regardless of what he called himself.
In the latter part of his career, from the 1950s onward, he spent an increasing amount of time exploring the medium of watercolor. It gave his work a lighter and looser feel.
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I guess it could be said Dali was a Classical artist who had a very Surreal point of view, eventually calling himself a nuclear mystic in the 50s. Andre Breton referred to him by the nickname Avida Dollars, an anagram meaning 'greed for money' because Dali did advertising work and painted portraits. Gala was very fond of money and since Dali could sell anything with his name on it, he often just drew partial images and sold them. There's no doubt, though, that he was very talented as well as being extremely prolific. It pretty much goes without saying he was also very strange.
"Nuclear mystic" is a very evocative term, and I have to congratulate him for coming up with it. It conjures up the tone of its time as well. Breton was a difficult man to get along with, and Dali certainly wasn't the only artist to fall out of favor with him. Of course it has to be said that the Dalis did like to keep themselves in the money, so the anagram fits. Witness the Chupa Chups lollipop logo, which he designed and which really didn't need a world-famous artist. He retained a love of art as well as a love for money and fame. It's hard to tell how much of his eccentricity was genuine and how much he played up for the latter.
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