Artisti, blogosfera ...and Dali

January 11, 2015

Artisti, blogosfera ...and Dali

Artisti, blogosfera and…..Dalí

#Eduardo Rodà

L’arma della libertà

Nel corso del duemila e quattordici, dedicai una serie d’articoli sul mio atelier ed in generale su altri luoghi di creazione, in molti dei quali si consumano: ore di lavoro, di solitudine e d’incertezze.

L’interesse sempre crescente nei social media verso le studio-visit d’artisti, come forma di presentazione del lavoro d’arte, sostituisce un po la pratica che si fece in altri tempi, quando le diapositive erano materiale di supporto di un buon dossier d’artista., unitamente ad un cv ed a un dossier de presse.

Ricordo le monografie sugli artisti celebri, abbondantemente arricchite di foto, di Picasso nei suoi atelier-castelli, le foto intime di Jackson Pollok e quelle di Mark Rothko, le foto dello studio di Francis Bacon l’artista irlandese di Dublino, verso il quale è piu d’ogni altro artista prima di Lui, s’installa una certa forma di culto alimentato dai media, che ha spinto i responsabili artistici d’Irlanda, dopo la morte dell’artista, ha trasferire il suo atelier all’interno del museo nazionale, ricostruendolo pezzo dopo pezzo.

Per molti altri della blogosfera, risulta interessante proporre per i propri lettori, una foto dello studio dell’artista, con relativa descrizione di quello che si vede e relativamente alle sue proposizioni artistiche.

Oggi l’artista diventa in qualche modo una figura professionale, multitaches, con una pagina personale sul web, dove curerà meticolasamente i contatti, tentando di vendere il prodotto direttamente al possible aquirente.

La figura dell’artista intesa in senso classico, sta cambiando? Le gallerie, i mecene il mercato e le vendite all’asta? tutte questioni che sono li e dovrebbero trovare delle risposte.

Una cosa è chiara cosi facendo, si corre il rischio di far scadere il tutto verso il basso, diluendo verso la mediocrità e molto spesso dietro la parvenza accattivante di facciata, si costruisce un facsimile di democratizzazione dell’arte, che si limiterebbe a un semplice mi piace, facebook insegna, quindi una lettura semplice ed in superficie.

La democratizzazione dell’arte passa anche ed attraverso il multiplo, sperimentato in epoca moderna, rimane ancora valido se accompagnato dalla qualità e da una tiratura limitata.

…… “Il mercato dell’arte e le quotazioni di un’artista commercialmente, sono strettamente legate alla disponibilità dell’aquirente a pagare il prezzo. Vendendo semplicemente alla zia , non si ha un valore di vendita, saranno le vendite all’asta che stabiliranno un valore commerciale di mercato, oppure, le vendite sostenute in galleria”………

Per quanto riguarda il valore spirituale dell’opera dell’artista, sembra che siano in pochi ha porsi la questione, preoccupati come sono dell’aspetto commerciale ed ai facili guadagni.

Per questo numero, il primo del nuovo anno, ho voluto proporVi una visita ai luoghi di un Artista con la A in grande, Salvador Dalí, un artista del secolo scorso, colui che da maestro imparti tante lezioni di tecnica e contenuto, lontano dalle preoccupazioni virtuali odierne.

Per questo mi sono avvalso della collaborazione speciale di Ana Rodà, da molti anni residente nel sud della Francia, con intervalli di residenza a Montréal.

Il suo amore verso l’arte e i luoghi che furono degli artisti impressionisti francesi, la portano a peregrinare in lungo e in largo, per kilometri, per tutta la splendida costa francese d’Antibes fino a Barcellona nella Spagna del nord .

In una sua recente visita , alla casa-studio dell’artista surrealista catalano, Salvador Dalí, non lontano dalla sua citta’ di residenza, St. Geniès De Fontedit, Ana Ci racconta del suo viaggio, descrivendolo in maniera essenziale e puntuale.

CADAQUÈS, FIGUERES, PORTLLIGAT

AND DALÍ

by Ana Rodà

For the longest time I have wanted to visit Salvador Dalí's house, but something always interfered to thwart my plans. Last December, we drove to the seaside villages of Dalí's country in Northern Spain – beautiful Catalonia – where I finally got to see the mad artist’s home.

Catalonia is a region I'm becoming very fond of and I love its inherent beauty: appeasing and languid in the summer heat, savage and wild when the Tramontane wind blows in from the sea or down from the mountains. It can blow fiercely cold in winter, as it can be extremely warm in summer.

I only mention this wind because it is an extremely important element in the landscape of the region, an innate aspect of the Catalan mentality, and because it has influenced so many artists in different disciplines. Without the Tramontane, we would have never had the pleasure of seeing paintings by Picasso and Miró, sculptures by Dalí, nor writings by Gabriel García Márques.

The day we were set to tour Dalí's house, we left home early enough to visit the surrounding villages, beginning with Cadaquès, a small town nestled in a bay on the Costa Brava of the Mediterranean, in the province of Girona, Catalonia. Much like Collioures at the very south of France, it became a haven for artists at the turn of the 20th century, with first Meifrén, followed later by Dalí, Picasso, Miró, to name a few.

Our next stop was Figueres, where Dalí was born and where his museum is located. Wherever you go, there are reminders of Dalí: drawings, paintings, and souvenirs… Figueres means fig tree in Catalan and it was a favourite of his, as well as the olive tree.

Portlligat, 15 minutes away by car from Cadaquès, is an island in the bay bearing the same name on the Costa Brava, and inhabited mostly by fishermen. During his youth, Dalí often left Figueres to visit Cadaquès and other villages further along the coast, and going through to Portlligat, fell in love with its bay and landscape.

In 1930, Salvador Dalí was looking for a house of his own and bought a small fisherman's cabin, more a place to store fishing gear than a place to call home. He was drawn by the landscape and its isolation. Dalí said that nowhere else could one find such luminosity, the light dancing over everything it touched.

Portlligat was Dalí’s longest place of residence and where he normally lived and worked until his second wife Gala passed away in 1982. That same year, Dalí moved into Púbol Castle, a mansion he had bought and given to Gala as her own residence in 1969.

During a 40-year span, he bought other fisherman cabins, adding one after another, designing, creating his house and the grounds surrounding it to his liking, and as it remains to this day. In all, he incorporated seven fisherman cabins to complete his house, and the surrounding land.

Like most Catalans, Dalí was fiercely proud and patriotic, favouring the colours of Catalonia – mustard-gold yellow and orange-burnished red. He used these colours to decorate with against a totally white background throughout his house. Even the stairs are covered with sisal that has aged to Catalonia yellow, with a red runner along the edges of the carpet.

When you arrive at the property, the pebbled pathway, an endless mosaic, leads up to Dalí's house. The house has a labyrinthine look to it, one room giving into another and opening up into two or three other rooms or spaces. It is stunning. Unconventionally shaped windows let the sunlight in. Mirrors strategically placed throughout the house reflect as much light as possible when the sun rises. The house is packed with numerous objects and memoires that belonged to Dalí. All this was calculated expressly so by Dalí, each object in its place, resulting in a researched effortless elegance.

It is difficult to imagine the dimension of the house, the courtyards, and the grounds beyond from the outside. Once inside you are wowed by the vast grandeur… The items that decorate the house’s various areas render the rooms cosy, intimate. Carpets cover most of the floors; whitewashed walls are a perfect background for splashes of colour; velvet upholstery and antique furniture inspire comfort.

Gala's tastes influence the house and have an impact on you as you walk through the rooms. Dalí gave her carte blanche to decorate his house, but Gala ensured that her husband's preferences were respected above all else throughout the property. All the animals found in the house are embalmed... Throughout, Dalí’s favourite everlasting dried flowers are scattered in huge bunches in alcoves, on ledges, in vases, or hang upside down from the ceilings.

Perhaps the best way to describe the house's decoration is to say it is extraordinary, surprisingly unexpected, that everything is encased, works well, blends in perfectly together, as if it was meant to be that way and no other. Dalí's avant-gardist vision and creativity is further enhanced by Gala's sense of proportions and colour schemes.

The first room, the main entrance, is Bear Hall, where a huge embalmed yellow bear greets you. A low-seated couch and armchairs covered with a leaf-patterned fabric; an alcove with shelves containing fake books, a collection of Dalí's objects; a flight of stairs to the left... You enter into a living room, with low couches, in yellow damask and red trimmings, ledges where Gala's collection of child-like chairs of different sizes are displayed, some waiting for dolls to sit in them.

A beautiful wooden birdcage occupies the middle of the room. Against a wall in a corner, next to an elongated rectangular window, is a tiny frame. Gala and Dalí loved to hear the chirping of cicadas. They would catch the insects and keep them in this tiny frame.

From the living room you have a glimpse into the bedroom, with connecting yet separate beds, with a baldaquin-like draped headboard: to the left is Salvador's bed; to the right Gala's. The impression is one of a giant-sized bed. A rich silk brocade bedspread in powder blue with red trimmings adorns the bed and matching headboard. A tilted mirror placed at an angle on the opposite wall captures the first rays of sunlight that diffuse the entire room. The effect is astounding!

A small passage way on the right leads to Dalí's personal bathroom, a very simple, sparse, uncluttered space. His toiletry articles are still there… The dominant colours in this room are blue and cream white. This room with his personal items, his simple yet elegant taste in clothes and objects may appear to clash with the extravagance of his artistic works but these two sides of his character compliment and complete one another.

Further down another small corridor is Gala's bathroom, exclusively white. Virginal white. The bathtub, sink, pipi room, walls, towels, and commode – all are white. Against the wall facing the bathtub, a glass display case with gold stems holds her personal items: small, embalmed creatures, glass bottles, jars, coloured glass containers. Through a window, sunlight catches on everything. Gleaming. Shining. Shimmering. Dazzling!

A corridor to the left of the bedroom leads into Dalí's studio. Everything is as it was when he left it, except for the books, all fakes. The original books were transferred to his museum in Figueres. His last paintings are still on the easels. He had built an ingenious system with pulleys to hold the canvas upright. He could easily set it higher or lower according to his needs, allowing him to sit while he painted.

Let me tell you about the windows… All the rooms have windows. All the windows are of different shapes and sizes. All are used as frames in which a constant landscape so very dear to Dalí is showcased: the Portlligat Bay, an endless point of reference in his work. Surprisingly, regardless of their size, the windows let in sunlight everywhere.

There are other rooms to the house, of course, such as the kitchen and other utility rooms; the library; another studio; the study; the oval room, a semi-spherical space filled with books from floor to ceiling, and incredibly peaceful… A true architectural feat, one can appreciate the simplicity yet extraordinary creativity of the layout and its grandeur. All this space is showered with sunlight. This is the house’s core essence, light filtering through in shimmering waves, the height of beauty.

We then reach the end of the house, which leads us to several courtyards. Outside, everything is whitewashed, the walls of each outer building, the space used to hold sculpted benches to sit on, the outdoor cooking and eating area; everything is white. Except for the stones on the ground, black-grey marble stones and benches that are grey-black slate. The exterior whiteness contrasts with the blue of sky and sea; the white becomes translucent, incandescent. Pure, exquisite beauty.

Including the outer buildings, the courtyards and gardens, in all there are 15 spaces to visit. The outer buildings consist of the Pigeon Loft, the Clock Hut, the Wind Palace and another incredible feature of the property – the Via Làctia or the Milky Way. A white chalk path that runs parallel to the sea, it has its beginnings at the foot of a pomegranate tree. Dalí built around the tree and enclosed it, thus creating an inaccessible space.

From this enclosed space, he let the path continue down towards the sea. It's difficult to describe it accurately and do it justice. From a distance, the wall seems coated with layer upon layer of an immense sea of whipped cream spread out unevenly, forming a fluffy, cottony thickness you can almost fall into.

The summer dining area is located in one of the courtyards, adjacent to the swimming pool. This area of the house is, quite simply put, spectacularly splendid. This is no exaggeration. It became the centre of the Dalís’ social life, entertaining at its grandest.

A pathway leads to several gardens that unfold before you, with views overlooking the sea to one side or on vineyards to the other side. Green spaces are landscaped with a variety of dessert plants, cacti, and olive trees. Another pathway leads to the olive grove with a circular construction used by Dalí as an additional studio, especially for making sculptures and using the space as a performance area, in reality a stage.

In the outdoor part of the Wind Palace’s tower, Dalí inserted built-in clay receptacles with holes in them. When the strong Tramontane wind blows, you can hear the entire building howl, shrill whistling sounds that reverberate continuously. Inside, voices echo eerily. From the top of the Wind Palace, away from the olive grove construction, the lapis lazuli blue Mediterranean stretches out before you endlessly.

At the end of my visit, Dalí had charmed his way into my heart full throttle. I fell in love with Dalí. I’m in love with his exuberance, his extravagance, his folly, even when I don't understand it. I can't decipher his symbols. It's all a mystery to me! What does it matter! Dalí speaks to me and I listen and respond immediately.

I felt like a voyeur touring around his space. I half expected him to peep out of a corner, to catch me staring at his personal belongings, his objects, or to ask me if I liked how he had lived in this house. I could feel his presence, his spirit is everywhere in the house. What a unique and extraordinary man Dalí was. The man was a genius. A genuinely crazy, sexually repressed, wonderfully mad eccentric, enthusiastically unhinged, and ingeniously creative genius. I would have loved to have him as a guest at my dinner table.

An old-fashioned adjective or two qualify him perfectly: dashing and debonair!