The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald -- 7 December 1999
by Ian Gibson
Most famous, perhaps, for The Persistence of Memory, Salvador Dalí was one of the most flamboyant and sometimes controversial artists of his time. In this sensitive biography, Ian Gibson illuminates the enigma of Dalí's character. Looking back on his life, Gibson uncovers its hidden thread of shame. From the embarrassments brought on by his father, to the ambiguities of his sexual preferences, we learn of Dalí's careful masking of his secret fears. These aspects of his personality, though, rise to the surface in paintings produced in his peak years of the 1920s and 30s. In this book (the title of which is inspired by Dalí's self-aggrandizing autobiography The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí), Gibson describes the early years of the painter's life, which were rich with exploration, experimentation, and excitement in Barcelona and Paris. He tells of Dalí's relationship with the poet Federico Garcia Lorca (who was executed by Franco's partisans) which haunted Dalí until his dying day. And he tells of the intense relationship that defined most of Dalí's life, that with the firey Russian Gala. Gibson concentrates on the early years, spending two thirds of the book on the first half of Dalí's life. The remaining years were tainted with scandal, decline, and decaying artistic talent. That those years are the ones most remembered is unfortunate, for Dalí had great potential, tremendous talent, and great drive in his early years. Instead, the explosion of forgeries, tacitly approved by the artist; the sexual escapades with Gala; and the circus-like entourage that followed him are what are most recalled. His art, his greatest legacy, is tainted by his and Gala's greed, along with that of the untrustworthy staff who surrounded them. This is a rich and detailed biography, vibrantly written, exhaustively researched. Dalí is described from his love of his home in Spain, to his fear of locusts, to the dark recesses of his surreal masturbatory soul. The book, though, also lacks a certain amount of detail for which the reader may be left hungry, particularly in the later chapters. The art itself is not deeply examined, and the book, despite being copiously illustrated, could easily have done with three times the illustrations it has. Today, there are countless web sites dedicated to Dalí, from his beloved home in Figueres to the museum curiously located in St. Petersburg, Florida. Dalí remains one of the world's most famous artists. Justifiably. But this excellent and tragic biography illuminates the man behind the disturbing work, a man at once painfully shy and a bold performer.