Salvador Dali
Figure 2. Photographs of Salvador Dali (he didn’t always wear flowers on his mustache).
Figure 1. The Persistence of Memory Salvador Dali, 1931. Oil on canvas, 9 ½ x 13”. Museum of Modern Art.
Figure 3. Salvador Dali. Les Elephants c. 1948.
Born: May 11, 1904 Catalonia, Spain
Died: January 23, 1989 Catalonia, Spain
Style/Period: Surrealism, Modern Art
Salvador Dali loved to paint, draw, and play football as a child. He often got himself in trouble with his teachers for
daydreaming in class.
At the age of 17 he entered the Academy of Fine Art in Madrid, Spain, where he grew as an artist and experimented
with many styles of art.
Eventually Dali became interested in the idea of Surrealism and blossomed into a notable artist of the Surrealism
movement. Some of his Surrealist art featured real objects from everyday life but included transformed images into
object of non reality.
Surrealism began in the 1920’s in France and eventually spread worldwide among all forms of art including poetry, film,
music and art.
The term surrealism means above reality. This movement focused on things beyond reality, such as the subconscious
mind where dreams and random thoughts originate and imagination soars.
Surrealists believe that our dreams held the key to unlocking truth. Because surrealist artists often used dream like
thinking in their art, the end result is often based on reality yet incorporates unexpected twists that make their art
surprising, strange, silly, interesting, or simply odd.
Main take away: Salvador Dali, easily remembered by his curious mustache, was an important surrealist painter who
often mixed strange objects together or painted normal objects into bizarre settings making everything look out of place
.
Can you find objects that are real and objects that are dream like, or surreal in Salvador Dali’s paintings?
Project: Salvador Dali Drawing & Collage
In light of the Kimball Art Center’s April 2014 annual Wasatch Back Student Art Show with the theme “What Dreams Are
Made Of,” this Salvador Dali inspired lesson plan coincides perfectly to get you and your students brainstorming the
unlimited possibilities that students could submit into the exhibit. This lesson plan also reinforces the idea of dreams,
imagination and all the possibilities.
To introduce this lesson on Surrealism and the artist Salvador Dali, begin by showing your class Salvador Dali’s
Persistence of Memory (Fig. 1). Begin discussing his artwork by asking the question, “Do you think his paintings look real?
You might get a diverse answer from the group but that’s the point. It is kind of a trick question. Dali painted in a
realistic way but his subject matter was not realistic, it was a product of his imagination. For example, in this particular
painting, Dali painted objects from reality such as clocks, but immediately pulls the clocks from our true reality by
depicting them in a strange dream-like manner, making them look as though they are melting in a desert landscape. Ask
your students about their dreams they might have had last night. Do they ever have dreams that might seem strange if
they were to re-live them in reality? Continue the discussion by introducing the information on Surrealism and Salvador
Dali.
Next, inform your class that for their Dali inspired project, they will be making their own silly, strange, dream-like
picture, by using their pure imagination. Follow the procedures below to help the students make their own Dali dreamlike, surrealist collage.
Materials:
White drawing paper (teacher’s choice on size)
Magazine pages with pictures of objects/people to cut out OR pre-cut pictures of objects
Scissors, one for each student
Elmer’s glue or glue sticks
Art pencils
Art erasers
Markers, crayons, or colored pencils
Procedure:
1. Distribute to each student one sheet of drawing paper, a pencil, eraser, magazine pages, glue, and coloring
utensils to share.
2. Starting with the magazine and scissors, instruct students to find 5 random objects, persons, or images of their
liking and to carefully cut those out of the magazine. (They don’t have to get too detailed in cutting out the
contour of their images)
3. Using a pencil have students draw a horizon line on their drawing paper by drawing a straight-ish, horizontal
line across their paper. Correct placement should be either across the bottom third of their paper or the top
third (Suggested for grades 3-5. K-2 may skip this step and proceed to step 4).
Horizon line refers back to the Maynard Dixon lesson students learned about in the beginning of the year. See if
students remember what a horizon line is before you give it away).
4. Have students arrange their 5 images on their drawing paper and glue them down.
5. The final step is to let their imaginations run wild and finish by adding in their own landscape drawings to
complete their picture making it an interesting, maybe strange, dream-like scene. *Teachers may want to have
old pages of landscape calendars or images of different landscapes for students to draw from to promote more
accurate landscape depictions. Some Art Coordinators may choose a different type of landscape for each grade
or for lower and higher grades. Check to make sure horizon lines are in back of objects as way to create depth.
Big objects are closer and small objects are further away.
6. Finally, for those who drew in a horizon line, add gradient color above the horizon line. Start with the darkest
shading at the top of the page and gradually lighten the shading/color as you get closer to the horizon line.
Indicate that Dali made many of his skies have atmospheric perspective by using a gradient technique (color
value). The closer to the ground, the lighter you shade. Make sure students fill in a complete landscape to
house their scene, no white unless it is in mountain snow or clouds. Teachers should demonstrate the ability to
create color gradient or value and discuss good coloring techniques. Older grades may find it easier to color with
colored pencil, while younger grades find it better to color with crayons.
7. If students have time, allow them to alter or change the magazine images they might choose. If they have a
magazine cut out of a horse, they can make it have 2 heads, a unicorn, wings, etc.. that make it seam more
surreal. This can be done with markers or pencils.
*This lesson allows for review of previous techniques used in the Maynard Dixon lesson. This is a valuable lesson to show
which concepts students are retaining knowledge about and what aspects need more focus. Benchmark concepts are:
Horizon Line – ask students what it is, its purpose, when is it used? (a line that separates the foreground and background
of an image, Its used in landscapes to create depth and perspective) NO MORE DRAWING ON BOTTOM OF THE SHEET OF
PAPER, CREATE DEPTH!
Cut & Paste – who can do it on their own and with skill?
Review of landscapes with students, what is a landscape, what can be in it? Mountains, Trees, Clouds, Plains, Rivers,
Based on Utah State Visual Arts Core Curriculum (3rd Grade)
Standard 1:
(Making): The student will explore and refine the application of media, techniques, and artistic processes.
Objective 1:
Explore a variety of art materials while learning new techniques and processes.
Practice using skills for beginning drawings; e.g. blocking-in, stick figures, or drawing the action or gesture of a figure.
Use simplified forms, such as cones, spheres, and cubes, to begin drawing more complex forms.
Create the appearance of depth by drawing distant objects smaller and with less detail than objects in the foreground.
Portray cast shadows as falling opposite their source of light.
Objective 2:
Use a broad range of art materials in supporting the visual arts needs at school
Use as many art materials as possible to help decorate the room.
Objective 3:
Handle art materials in a safe and responsible manner.
Ventilate the room to avoid inhaling fumes from art materials.
Dispose and/or recycle waste art materials properly.
Clean and put back to order art making areas after projects.
Respect other student’s artworks as well as one’s own.
Standard 2
(Perceiving): The student will analyze, reflect on, and apply the structures of art.
Objective 1
Analyze and reflect on works of art by their elements and principles.
Examine significant works of art and point out how the artists created in illusion or feeling of depth.
Objective 2
Create works of art using the elements and principles.
Identify dominant elements in significant works of art.
Group some significant works of art by a common element or visual characteristic.
Discover how an artist has thoughtfully used all of the spaces within an artwork.
Create a work of art that uses all of the space on the paper.
Create a work of art that uses contrast to create a focal point. Use that to convey the most important idea or part of the
work.
Standard 3
(Expressing): The student will choose and evaluate artistic subject matter, themes, symbols, ideas, meanings, and
purposes.
Objective 1
Explore possible content and purposes in significant works of art.
Explain possible meanings or interpretations of some significant works of art.
Invent possible stories that may explain what is going on in these same works of art.
Discuss how an artist’s work might be different if it is displayed publicly as opposed to being displayed at home.
Objective 2
Discuss, evaluate, and choose symbols, ideas, subject matter, meanings, and purposes for their own artworks.
Create a work of art that uses a similar subject matter, symbol, idea, and/or meaning found in a significant work of art.