Daladier. He Was Handed Over to the Germans and Remained In
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DALI´ ,SALVADOR Daladier. He was handed over to the Germans and all the surrealists—the only one who achieved celeb- remained in detention until the end of the war. rity status during his lifetime. Although he pub- lished numerous writings, his most important Despite the violent allegations against him by the contributions were concerned with surrealist paint- then very powerful Communist Party, which never ing. While his name conjures up images of melting forgave him for his attitude toward them in 1939, watches and flaming giraffes, his mature style took Daladier returned to France and to his old post of years to develop. By 1926, Dalı´ had experimented deputy for Vaucluse in June 1946. The Radical Party, with half a dozen styles, including pointillism, pur- however, was only a shadow of its former self, and it ism, primitivism, Marc Chagall’s visionary cubism, fused into a coalition of left-wing parties, the and Giorgio de Chirico’s metaphysical art. The same Rassemblement des Gauches Re´publicaines, an alli- year, he exhibited the painting Basket of Bread at ance of circumstance with little power. And while the Dalmau Gallery in Barcelona, inspired by the Herriot managed to become president of the seventeenth-century artist Francisco de Zurbara´n. National Assembly, Daladier never again played an However, his early work was chiefly influenced by important role. He made his presence felt with his the nineteenth-century realists and by cubist artists opposition to the European Defense Community such as Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. (EDC), paradoxically holding the same views as the communists. He was mayor of Avignon from 1953 The publication of Andre´ Breton’s first Manifeste to 1958 but, like many others, was swept out of du surre´alisme in 1924 made an indelible impression office that year by the Gaullist wave and lost his seat on Dalı´. Although Catalonia and the rest of Spain as deputy. He never again sought to reclaim it. were seething with avant-garde activity, Dalı´ was Daladier was nicknamed the ‘‘Bull of the excited by what was taking place in France. Vaucluse,’’ but his determined attitude hid the fact Moving to Paris in 1929, he joined the French that he was never able to be the man of action that surrealists and participated in their various activities. everyone expected. Except for vacation trips to Catalonia, he remained there for many years. Quickly assimilated into the See also Blum, Le´on; France; Munich Agreement; French movement, Dalı´ contributed a whole series Popular Front; World War II. of articles and paintings to journals such as La re´volution surre´aliste, Le surre´alisme au service de BIBLIOGRAPHY la re´volution, and Minotaure. While Breton, the Berstein, Serge. Histoire du Parti radical. 2 vols. Paris, leader of the surrealists, eventually came to despise 1980–1982. the artist, whom he accused of rampant commerci- Borne, Dominique, and Henri Dubief. La crise des anne´es alism, he was extremely impressed by his talent trente (1929–1938). Paris, 1989. initially. ‘‘For the first time perhaps,’’ he announced Du Re´au, Elisabeth. E´ douard Daladier. Paris, 1993. in 1929, ‘‘Dalı´ has opened our mental windows wide.’’ Calling his art ‘‘the most hallucinatory in Re´mond, Rene´, and Janine Bourdin, eds. E´ douard Daladier, chef de gouvernement, avril 1930–septembre existence,’’ Breton advised the surrealists to culti- 1939. Paris, 1977. vate voluntary hallucination like the painter (vol. 2, pp. 308–309; author’s translation). JEAN-JACQUES BECKER By this date, Dalı´’s art had evolved beyond his earlier obsession with strange objects and had n acquired a visionary character. It would undergo a radical transformation during the next few years as DALI´, SALVADOR (1904–1989), Spanish the artist experimented with a new hallucinatory painter, sculptor, and graphic artist. aesthetics that made his former efforts seem pale Born and raised in the Spanish province of by comparison. Taking a leaf from the poet Arthur Catalonia, situated in the country’s northeast Rimbaud’s book, who taught himself to see a corner, Salvador Dalı´ was destined to win world- mosque in place of a factory, Dalı´ boasted he was wide fame. Indeed, as a result of his continual self- able to imagine a woman who was simultaneously promotion, Dalı´ is probably the best known of a horse. By accustoming himself to voluntary 770 EUROPE SINCE 1914 DALI´ ,SALVADOR The Metamorphosis of Narcissus. Painting by Salvador Dalı´, 1937. ART RESOURCE,NY hallucination, he was able to reshape reality accord- delirious phenomena’’ (Ades, p. 126), the para- ing to the dictates of his desire. This experience, noiac-critical method furnished the artist with an which foreshadowed the invention of his famous endless number of paintings. In the early 1930s, he paranoiac-critical method, testified to the triumph became obsessed with Jean-Franc¸ois Millet’s The of the pleasure principle over the reality principle. Angelus (1858), which he cited over and over in At the same time, Dalı´’s obsession with putrefaction his works, and with the story of William Tell. and scatological subjects increased, and he began Toward the end of the decade, Dalı´ began to jux- to explore Freudian themes overtly in paintings tapose pairs of images to illustrate the theme of such as The Great Masturbator (1929) and in the involuntary transformation. In The Metamorphosis of movie An Andalusian Dog, created the same year Narcissus (1937), for example, two identical con- with the Spanish filmmaker Luis Bun˜uel. By 1934 structions are placed side by side. The image of Dalı´ had managed to violate every conceivable Narcissus admiring himself in the water is juxta- artistic taboo and had perfected the outrageous posed with several objects that closely resemble persona that would contribute to his notoriety. him. In other paintings, two images are superim- While voluntary hallucination produced excel- posed in such a way that each is continually trans- lent results, it was essentially a conscious process. formed into the other, creating a deliberate Inspired by the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, confusion between figure and ground. In The who published a thesis on paranoia in 1932, Dalı´ Slave Market with the Disappearing Bust of developed a method of incorporating involuntary Voltaire (1940), a statue of the French philosopher hallucinations into his art. Defined by Dalı´asa in the foreground dissolves to reveal three servants ‘‘spontaneous method of irrational knowledge standing in the background, who dissolve again based on the irrational-critical association of to depict Voltaire in the foreground. Dalı´ would EUROPE SINCE 1914 771 D’ANNUNZIO, GABRIELE exploit these and other hallucinatory techniques showed his contempt for the Fascists and for their brilliantly during the next fifty years, broadening leader Benito Mussolini (1883–1945), who led his repertoire to include mystical and scientific Italy from 1922 to 1943. D’Annunzio in fact themes while remaining faithful to his original regarded Mussolini as his social and political infe- inspiration. rior. D’Annunzio’s political views were quite equiv- ocal and so was his relationship with the Fascist See also Breton, Andre´; Chagall, Marc; Cubism; Painting, Avant-Garde; Surrealism. regime. The scholar Paolo Alatri sees the poet dur- ing this period as a pacifier attempting to create a bridge between left-wing agitators fighting for their BIBLIOGRAPHY rights and Mussolini’s followers ready to beat their Ades, Dawn. Dalı´. London and New York, 1995. The best opponents into insensibility. book on the subject. Alexandrian, Sarane. Surrealist Art. Translated by Gordon D’Annunzio was above all an individualist who Clough. London and New York, 1985. was impervious to public criticism and followed his own poetic instincts. In his mid fifties during the Breton, Andre´. Oeuvres comple`tes. Edited by Marguerite Bonnet et al. 3 vols. Paris, 1988–1999. First World War, he flew bombing raids over Austria and a few months later captained a torpedo Finkelstein, Haim. Salvador Dalı´’s Art and Writing, 1927– boat raid into enemy Dalmatia. D’Annunzio was 1942: The Metamorphosis of Narcissus. Cambridge, U.K., 1996. always on the watch for actions that would allow him to enter into the legends of posterity. When Neret, Gilles, and Robert Descharnes. Dalı´ 1904–1989. the war concluded, on the pretext of an established Translated by Michael Hulse. New York, 1998. Italian culture already in place, the poet and his WILLARD BOHN private army, called the Arditi, invaded the city of Fiume (in present-day Croatia) in September 1919 and transformed it into a city-state called Carnaro, n which he ruled like a Renaissance prince. While D’ANNUNZIO, GABRIELE (1863– ruling the city of Fiume, D’Annunzio issued the 1938), Italian author, soldier, and political leader. Carnaro Charter, a document stating that schools should be free of religious propaganda and influ- Gabriele D’Annunzio was born in Pescara, a ence and guaranteeing freedom of the press and of provincial coastal town in the region of the trade union associations. The Charter was in a Abruzzi in Italy on 12 March 1863. A poet, novel- sense the antithesis to the course of actions taken ist, political activist, and dramatist, he was also by Mussolini’s government in the years to come. known for his flamboyant and rather anarchic life- However, the situation in Fiume deteriorated to a style and for his numerous amorous adventures point of anarchy, leading the population of the city with high-society women. As a novelist, he was to speak out against the occupation and against the greatly inspired by the works of Friedrich Wilhelm immoral attitude of the legionaries. After stiff resis- Nietzsche (1844–1900), the late-nineteenth- tance, D’Annunzio left Fiume on 18 January 1921, century German philosopher who challenged the when international opinion forced his expulsion foundations of traditional morality and Christianity.