Time is a funny thing, it marches on and we all fall by the wayside. The legacies we leave can take many forms, be it in family, business, deeds or even art. The thing many people don’t take into account is that these legacies have people behind them, some good, some confused and some monstrous. Perception is the medium of time, be it from stories or images, but here, we dig deeper!. Over the time we will be having a look at artists who were utter uncompromising shits while they were alive but created beautiful timeless images we all love and accept as masterpieces and if we should still love their art.

Salvador Dali

Dali had many quirks, from owning a pet ocelot named Babou who he took everywhere to thinking he was the reincarnation of his own brother. Sadly the surrealist mastermind was also a bit of a shit, when he was 29 he stomped a women near unconscious for saying his feet were beautiful, he was so insistent in fact on using his ‘beautiful feet’ to try and kill her, his friends had to drag him off the poor woman.

He was a pure sadist, he found pleasure in causing and experiencing pain, he used to throw himself down the stairs and was quoted as saying “The pain was insignificant, the pleasure was immense”. There are multiple accounts of him hurting others and revelling in it, he once pushed a friend from a bridge to the rocks below, only to then watch after helping his friend home as his mother desperately tried to help as best she could, while Dali enjoyed a bowl of cherries.

He was seen as a Nazi sympathiser by his peers and expelled for it, he had a fetish and fascination in Hitler, he is quoted as saying  “I often dreamed of Hitler as a woman.” Personally don’t think he was a Nazi sympathiser, but a lover of pain and conflict, his sadism would have only made Hitler’s atrocities almost beautiful to him, thus his mind throwing him a female Hitler. Lacking a better way to say it, it’s like he’s a fan of their work but not their ideal, as absolutely horrid as that sounds. He was friends with Wallis Simpson who was suspected of being a Nazi Sympathiser, he even drew her a little sketch over lunch. Even this I don’t think cements his Nazism just his sadism as being close to those who met Hitler must have excited him. His fascination with Nazis from what I have seen seems to purely focus around Hitler and his deeds (starting the war, The Holocaust) these are things, Dali, as an extreme sadist would have revelled in. He wasn’t attracted to the Nazis he was attracted to their putrefaction but whether you think he was a Nazi or just a Nazi fan boy I think you’ll agree, the man had problems.

Dali was devoted to his wife, Gala Dali, completely, so much so that he was obsessed with her, he bought her a castle and it got to a point where she made him write a letter to ask her permission to visit and wait for a formal invitation back. Unfortunately not even this saved her from some of the Dali brand punishment, nearing the end of his life and sick while she was caring for him, he beat his wife Gala so badly he broke two of her ribs. There are rumours she was drugging him and maybe trying to ‘see him off’ a bit earlier which could have accounted for the violent outburst, but let’s not forget how quick with his ‘beautiful’ feet he is, shall we. On the whole his entire outlook on women was particularly grim, he confessed to finding vaginas scary until he met Gala and that he preferred masturbating while looking in a mirror.

There are many other instances of Dali being *quirky* far too many to list here, but with just what you have read, I think you will agree with me, the man was a shit. Now the question, should it matter when it comes to his art?, and the answer, for me at least, is could he have created his art without being a bastard, without having these morbid fascinations and horrendous loves?. I personally don’t think he could have. Art is certainly a skill based medium, you practice, you improve, you get direction and take on experience in the craft but what you paint, that’s who the artist is. Without his sadism, narcissism and general morbid loves he could never have created what he did, i’m sure he would have been an accomplished artist but not the golden idol he is made into today. For me i’m not a massive fan of Dali, you can’t deny he changed everything though, he is the man who brought Surrealism to the everyday consumer and it continues to influence a multitude of media forms. But I feel separating art from artist is the wrong thing to do, especially here, instead, look at him for who he is, take that on board fully then look at his paintings. If you still like them you will see his influences, his madness used for good almost, if on the other hand you see something else, rage, maybe fear and you don’t like it, that’s fine. It’s all about an informed decision and the idea of throwing something away because the person wasn’t right in the head just doesn’t sit right with me, it’s your choice.