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Image by Carl Van Vecht\u00aden, via Library of Con\u00adgress and Wiki\u00adme\u00addia Com\u00admons<\/a><\/p>\n We may be con\u00addi\u00adtioned to offer\u00ading an opin\u00adion at the push of a but\u00adton, but before ven\u00adtur\u00ading on the ques\u00adtion of whether we can, or should, sep\u00ada\u00adrate the art from the artist, it seems ever pru\u00addent to ask, \u201cWhich art and which artist?\u201d There are the usu\u00adal case stud\u00adies, in addi\u00adtion to the crop of dis\u00adgraced celebri\u00adties: Ezra Pound<\/a>, P.G. Wode\u00adhouse<\/a>, and, in phi\u00adlos\u00ado\u00adphy, Mar\u00adtin Hei\u00addeg\u00adger<\/a>. One case of a very trou\u00adbling artist, Sal\u00advador Dal\u00ed, gets less atten\u00adtion, but offers us much mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal for con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion, espe\u00adcial\u00adly along\u00adside an essay by George Orwell<\/a>, who rumi\u00adnat\u00aded on the ques\u00adtion and called Dal\u00ed both \u201ca dis\u00adgust\u00ading human being\u201d and an artist of unde\u00adni\u00adably \u201cexcep\u00adtion\u00adal gifts.\u201d<\/p>\n Like these oth\u00ader fig\u00adures, Dal\u00ed has long been alleged to have had fas\u00adcist sym\u00adpa\u00adthies, a charge that goes back to the 1930s and per\u00adhaps orig\u00adi\u00adnat\u00aded with his fel\u00adlow Sur\u00adre\u00adal\u00adists, espe\u00adcial\u00adly Andr\u00e9 Bre\u00adton, who put Dal\u00ed on \u201ctri\u00adal\u201d in 1934 for \u201cthe glo\u00adri\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion of Hit\u00adler\u00adian fas\u00adcism\u201d and expelled him from the move\u00adment. The Sur\u00adre\u00adal\u00adists, most of whom were com\u00admu\u00adnists, were pro\u00advoked by Dal\u00ed\u2019s dis\u00addain for their pol\u00adi\u00adtics, expressed in the like\u00adness of Lenin in The Enig\u00adma of William Tell<\/a>. It\u2019s also true that Dal\u00ed seemed to pub\u00adlicly pro\u00adfess an admi\u00adra\u00adtion for Hitler. But as with every\u00adthing he did, it\u2019s impos\u00adsi\u00adble to tell how seri\u00adous\u00adly we can take any of his pro\u00adnounce\u00adments.<\/p>\n Anoth\u00ader paint\u00ading, 1939\u2019s The Enig\u00adma of Hitler <\/a>is even more ambigu\u00adous than The Enig\u00adma of William Tell<\/a>, a col\u00adlec\u00adtion of dream images, with the recur\u00adring melt\u00ading objects, crutch\u00ades, mol\u00adlusk shells, and food images, set around a tiny por\u00adtrait of the Ger\u00adman dic\u00adta\u00adtor. Kami\u00adla Kocialkows\u00adka sug\u00adgests<\/a> that psy\u00adcho\u00adan\u00ada\u00adlyt\u00adic motifs in the paint\u00ading, some rather obvi\u00adous, reflect Hitler\u2019s \u201cfear of impo\u00adtence, and cer\u00adtain com\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtors have not\u00aded that Hitler\u2019s enthu\u00adsi\u00adas\u00adtic pro\u00admo\u00adtion of nation\u00adal\u00adis\u00adtic breed\u00ading can fur\u00adther explain the innu\u00aden\u00addo present in this image.\u201d<\/p>\n The Hitler obses\u00adsion began years ear\u00adli\u00ader. \u201cI often dreamed of Hitler as a woman,\u201d Dal\u00ed sup\u00adpos\u00aded\u00adly said<\/a>,<\/p>\n His flesh, which I imag\u00adined as whiter than white, rav\u00adished me. I paint\u00aded a Hit\u00adler\u00adian wet nurse sit\u00adting kneel\u00ading in a pud\u00addle of water\u2026.<\/p>\n There was no rea\u00adson for me to stop telling one and all that to me Hitler embod\u00adied the per\u00adfect image of the great masochist who would unleash a world war sole\u00adly for the plea\u00adsure of los\u00ading and bury\u00ading him\u00adself beneath the rub\u00adble.<\/p>\n The paint\u00ading Dal\u00ed alludes to, The Wean\u00ading of Fur\u00adni\u00adture-Nutri\u00adtion<\/a>, is the work that first raised Breton\u2019s ire, since \u201cDal\u00ed had orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adly paint\u00aded a swasti\u00adka on the nurse\u2019s arm\u00adband,\u201d notes art his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan Robin Ad\u00e8le Gree\u00adley<\/a>, \u201cwhich the Sur\u00adre\u00adal\u00adists lat\u00ader forced him to paint out.\u201d Dal\u00ed lat\u00ader claimed that his Hitler paint\u00adings \u201csub\u00advert fas\u00adcist ide\u00adolo\u00adgies,\u201d Gree\u00adley writes: \u201cBre\u00adton and com\u00adpa\u00adny appear not to have appre\u00adci\u00adat\u00aded a fel\u00adlow Sur\u00adre\u00adal\u00adist sug\u00adgest\u00ading that there were con\u00adnec\u00adtions to be made between bour\u00adgeois child\u00adhoods such as their own and the fam\u00adi\u00adly life of the Nazi dic\u00adta\u00adtor.\u201d Like\u00adwise, his creepy dream-lan\u00adguage above is hard\u00adly more straight\u00adfor\u00adward than the paint\u00adings, though he did write in The Unspeak\u00adable Con\u00adfes\u00adsions of Sal\u00advador Dal\u00ed,<\/a> \u201cHitler turned me on in the high\u00adest.\u201d<\/p>\n Oth\u00ader pieces of evi\u00addence for Dal\u00ed\u2019s pol\u00adi\u00adtics are also com\u00adpelling but still cir\u00adcum\u00adstan\u00adtial, such as his friend\u00adship with the proud\u00adly pro\u00adfessed Nazi-sym\u00adpa\u00adthiz\u00ader<\/a>, Wal\u00adlis Simp\u00adson, the Amer\u00adi\u00adcan Duchess of Wind\u00adsor, and his admi\u00adra\u00adtion for Span\u00adish dic\u00adta\u00adtor Fran\u00adcis\u00adco Fran\u00adco, whom he called, as Lau\u00adren Oyler points out at Vice<\/a>, \u201cthe great\u00adest hero of Spain.\u201d (Dal\u00ed paint\u00aded a por\u00adtrait of Franco\u2019s daugh\u00adter). Oyler points out that Dal\u00ed\u2019s \u201cwicked\u00adness,\u201d as Orwell put it in his scathing review of the artist\u2019s \u201cauto\u00adbi\u00adog\u00adra\u00adphy\u201d (a spu\u00adri\u00adous cat\u00ade\u00adgo\u00adry in the case of ser\u00adi\u00adal fab\u00adri\u00adca\u00adtor Dal\u00ed), mat\u00adters even if it were pure provo\u00adca\u00adtion rather than gen\u00aduine com\u00admit\u00adment.<\/p>\n The claim car\u00adries more weight when applied to the artist\u2019s attest\u00aded sadism in gen\u00ader\u00adal. Dal\u00ed spends a good part of his Con\u00adfes\u00adsions<\/a> delight\u00ading in sto\u00adries of bru\u00adtal phys\u00adi\u00adcal and sex\u00adu\u00adal assault and cru\u00adel\u00adty to ani\u00admals. (The famous Dal\u00ed Atom\u00adi\u00adcus pho\u00adto<\/a>, his col\u00adlab\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtion with Philippe Hals\u00adman, required 28 attempts, Oyler notes, and \u201ceach of those attempts involved throw\u00ading three cats in the air and fling\u00ading buck\u00adets of water at them.\u201d) Whether or not Dal\u00ed was a gen\u00aduine Nazi sym\u00adpa\u00adthiz\u00ader or an amoral right-wing troll, Orwell is com\u00adplete\u00adly unwill\u00ading to give him a pass for gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly cru\u00adel, abu\u00adsive behav\u00adior.<\/p>\n \u201cIn his out\u00adlook,\u201d writes Orwell,<\/a> \u201chis char\u00adac\u00adter, the bedrock decen\u00adcy of a human being does not exist. He is as anti-social as a flea. Clear\u00adly, such peo\u00adple are unde\u00adsir\u00adable, and a soci\u00adety in which they can flour\u00adish has some\u00adthing wrong with it.\u201d But per\u00adhaps Dal\u00ed means to say exact\u00adly that.\u00a0Allow\u00ading for the pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty, Orwell is also unwill\u00ading to toss aside Dal\u00ed\u2019s work. The artist, he writes \u201chas fifty times more tal\u00adent than most of the peo\u00adple who would denounce his morals and jeer at his paint\u00adings.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to the ques\u00adtion of Dal\u00ed as fas\u00adcist, some less-than-nuanced views of his work (\u201cMarx\u00adist crit\u00adi\u00adcism has a short way with such phe\u00adnom\u00ade\u00adna as Sur\u00adre\u00adal\u00adism,\u201d writes Orwell) might miss the mark.\u00a0The Wean\u00ading of Fur\u00adni\u00adture-Nutri\u00adtion<\/a>, writes Gree\u00adley, seems to reveal \u201ca secret about his own mid\u00addle-class back\u00adground\u201d as a nurs\u00adery for fas\u00adcism, espe\u00adcial\u00adly giv\u00aden the \u201cdis\u00adturb\u00ading\u201d fact that \u201cthe nurse is a por\u00adtrait of Dal\u00ed\u2019s own, and that she droops hol\u00adlow\u00adly on the shore near the painter\u2019s Cata\u00adlan child\u00adhood home, sug\u00adgest\u00ading that Dal\u00ed him\u00adself might have had a \u2018hit\u00adler\u00adian\u2019 upbring\u00ading.\u201d<\/p>\n Gree\u00adley\u2019s fur\u00adther elab\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtion on Dal\u00ed\u2019s con\u00adflict with Bre\u00adton fur\u00adther weak\u00adens the charges against him. \u201cTen days before the Feb\u00adru\u00adary meet\u00ading, he had defend\u00aded him\u00adself to Bre\u00adton,\u201d she writes, \u201cclaim\u00ading, \u2018I am hit\u00adler\u00adian nei\u00adther in fact nor in inten\u00adtion.\u2019\u00a0\u201d He point\u00aded out that the Nazis would like\u00adly burn his work, and chas\u00adtised left\u00adists for \u201ctheir lack of insight into fas\u00adcism.\u201d<\/p>\n The ques\u00adtion of Dal\u00ed\u2019s fas\u00adcist sym\u00adpa\u00adthies is inco\u00adher\u00adent with\u00adout the biog\u00adra\u00adphy, and the bio\u00adgraph\u00adi\u00adcal evi\u00addence against Dal\u00ed seems fair\u00adly thin. Nonethe\u00adless, he has emerged from his\u00adto\u00adry as a vio\u00adlent, vicious, oppor\u00adtunis\u00adtic per\u00adson. How much this should mat\u00adter to our appre\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtion of his art is a mat\u00adter you\u2019ll have to decide for your\u00adself.<\/p>\n Note: An ear\u00adli\u00ader ver\u00adsion of this post appeared on our site in 2018.<\/p>\n Relat\u00aded Con\u00adtent:<\/p>\n George Orwell Reviews Sal\u00advador Dali\u2019s Auto\u00adbi\u00adog\u00adra\u00adphy: \u201cDali is a Good Draughts\u00adman and a Dis\u00adgust\u00ading Human Being\u201d (1944)<\/a><\/p>\n