Description
1956 – SALVADOR DALÍ 53 YEARS OLD
In 1956, taking advantage of a cruise ship going from New York to Le Havre, Dalí wrote “Els cornuts del vell art modern”. In the text, Dalí charged again against modern painting and denounced the servility of the critics who applauded him unconditionally. He didn’t even save Miró, one of his former protectors, from his attacks. For Dalí, who defined himself as “the modern genius for excellence”, there was only one valid painting language: that which started from the idea of “the discontinuity of matter”. In other words, his mystical-nuclear style. A few weeks before “Els cornuts del vell modern art” was published, Dalí was received by General Franco at the Pardi Palace, outside Madrid, where the dictator resided. Dalí had made an effort to have the support of Franco, since his security and stability depended on him. At the same time, it was very important for the dictator to bond with the painter. With his prestige and fame, Dalí could be of great use in legitimizing the regime that was continuously questioned on the international stage for its authoritarian nature. Shortly afterward, Dalí lent his image to an association dedicated to spreading the legacy of the modernist architect Antoni Gaudí. Dalí organized a large conference where he made a passionate defense of Gaudí, whom he described as an artist of “soft architecture”. After the parliament, and amid continuous applause, Dalí traced a drawing of the Sagrada Família on a large canvas using a broom smeared with tar.
