5 comments about Dali's Mustache.

1. I thoroughly enjoyed the photos in this book, but that is all there was to it. There are about 40 really great photos of Dali doing strange things with his mustache. It is certainly not, as I was led to believe by the other reviewer, a novel. One can easily read the whole book in just a few minutes. It is called a photographic interview and just has some questions, each followed by a crazy photo with a caption.



2. I'm not an educated art critic or even really a big art fan, but I take an art class for my high school and one day my teacher showed us this book. I thought it looked weird and since thats the type of art I like i picked it up and read it. This book is very weird and funny. The ways they can get the moustache to stand are really cool. I especially like the fishing pole one and the graph but really all the pictures are good. This book has turned me on to the weirder side of art.



3. I was surprised to see that this Dali book is more a book of photography than of any of Dali's art. I mean, I knew it was mostly pictures of him, but it turns out to be all these complicated photographs of Dali! It's pretty interesting, especially if you're into photos. And what makes the book is the last section where there are descriptions of how all the weirdest pictures were taken. To think that all of them could have been done effortlessly on a computer these days says something about Philippe Halsman's dedication. Kudos!



4. This book is mainly pictures of Salvador Dali's mustache in different poses. His whiskers have stand straight up, go straight out, and everything in between. There is some some dialogue that is nothing more than questions and answers. For instance, it is asked why Dali paints. On the next page his mustache is shaped like an 'S' and there are two paint brushes running across his face to complete the dollar sign '$'.
   
   I love this book because I am a big fan of Dali. Also my daughter has come to love it and usually asks for this book for her bedtime story. It makes her giggle because some of the pictures are just so strange. Although the picture of Dali as the Mona Lisa is quite disturbing.
   
   The book can be read in under three minutes, but for fans of "The Dali" it can bring a lifetime of pleasure.



5. We saw this at l'Espace Salvador Dali in Paris and loved it, but didn't want to pay museum/weak dollar prices. It was a good value on Amazon, and my son (a big Dali fan) loved it for Christmas. It's a photographic interview with Dali about his mustache. Each question is followed by a short answer with illustrative photograph of the artist's mustache in various wild, waxed poses. The photos are hysterical; the humor all Dali.

No comments about Dali & Film.

5 comments about Dali.

1. I liked the book. The mix of explanations of the painting and his life was very descriptive. I learned a lot about his friends and famliy. The book just reminds me that in every genius there's a lunatic.



2. As a college art major I developed a distaste for Dali and his art, even referring to him as a "pimp" in an essay. I was turned off by his commercialism and his overly-polished style. But over the years my opinion began to shift, and the major retrospective at the Philadelphia Museum of Art has completely renovated my appreciation for the man and his art.
   
   This huge and handsome tome is the catalogue for the Philly retrospective, and includes hundreds of color images along with insights into the thought behind the imagery. The book takes you through his youthful experiments in post-impressionism and cubism (there are a few works you'd swear were by Picasso!), into his affiliation with Surrealism, his development of his personal "paranoiac-critical" method, and his later interests in physics and conversion to Catholicism. The middle section of the book and exhibit includes hundreds of his best-known and most widely-admired paintings, but surprises abound in the early and later sections, with works most people never knew he created.
   
   What struck me most in the show and the book was how thoroughly dedicated Dali was to his art, and how intellectually involved his work was. His draughtsmanship was also so acute as to defy belief. I realize now that I was sold so completely on his posture as an eccentric personality, that I lost sight of the power of his art. But this show and book reveal how truly special and significant Dali was as an artist, art theorist, and explorer of the hinterlands of the mind and soul.



3. Every painting he did is here. They list the paintings in chrnological order. Each painting is titled and they describe some of the paintings throughout the book. In the back tehy list the size of the painting and what it was painted on if you want to know that stuff. Overall there are 1648 paintings or images. This book is great.



4. The value of this book is in its 1600+ image reproductions. A few of them are photos of Dali or the people and places that inspired him. A very few show existing artworks to which Dali's creations responded. The overwhelming majority, however, display Dali's own paintings or the sketches related to them.
   
   And the mass of imagery is overwhelming. The book traces Dali's output from his early, formative periods onwards. Although Dali was productive in the 1920s, his familiar style emerged in the 1930s and simply expanded for the next half-century. The chronological organization of this book lets us see Dali's art and personality develop. Among other things, we see how his sketching evolved from pen drawings early in his career to loose oil sketches later. This also seemed to complete some kind of cycle, from the relative crudity of his early work, to the crystalline finish of his best-known years, back to imprecision again, but with all of his mature expressiveness.
   
   By its attempt at completeness, this presents aspects of Dali that other authors often ignore. For example, Dali was profoundly influenced by Catholic Christianity. Although his personal beliefs may be difficult to fathom, he produced some of the most beautiful images of Christ ever created.
   
   Descharne's commentary supports the images well, but it's hard to read. I don't mean that the text is badly written - quite the opposite, it is very helpful, especially in biographical notes that describe Dali's life at the time of each work. Instead, I mean that my thoughts can't stay on the words for long when the pictures take such command of my attention.
   
   //wiredweird



5. Dali (Mallard Fine Art Series) I have read this book cover to cover and enjoyed every word! Paul Moorhouse manages to give a great amount of information covering Dali's life, his contribution to Surrealism, hidden aspects of his personality, his thinking and preferences at different periods in his life, thus allowing the reader to enter the magical world of Dali. The paintings selected span Dali's lifetime and represent the major directions of his work at different points in his life. The explanation provided for each painting includes its symbolism, its relation to what the artist was going through personally at the time, as well as connections with the historical period and other influences. The only minus is the quality of the reproduction of a few of the paintings which is a bit disappointing. All in all a book I highly recommend.

1 comments about The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Salvador Dali (Adventures in Art).

1. It is hard to do justice to the imaginative insanity of Salvador Dali, but Angela Wenzel does a pretty good job for this volume in the Adventures in Art series. "The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Salvador Dali" introduces young readers to the Surrealist artist who knew how to put himself in the limelight in ways other than his paintings. One of things that Wenzel does is that she provides some of Dali's own comments about his art, such as the 1937 painting "Sleep," where a heavy face that looks like the film director Luis Bunuel is propped by my crutches and explaining the link between the writings of Sigmund Freud on dreams and Dali's painting "The Burning Giraffe" (1936-37), where drawers are coming out of a tall woman's body. Also included are the famous melting clocks of "The Persistence of Memory" (1931), the fried eggs of "The Sublime Moment" (1938), and the multiple pictures within "The Metamorphosis of Narcissus" (1937).

   What I especially like about this volume is how it looks at the origins of some of these paintings. For "The Endless Enigma" (1938) we have the original sketches of the six different paintings that Dali hid in the finished painting, while a postcrd showing an African village became a face turned on its side in "Paranoid Faces" (1931). Then there was the "Portrait of Mrs. Isabel Styler-Tas" (1945), which Dali based on Piero della Francesca's "Battista Sforza and Federico de Montefeltro" (circa 1465) by way of Giuseppe Arcimboldo's "Winter," a marvelous example of how the old becomes new in the hands of a talented artist.

   Young readers will also be exposed to some prime examples of Dali's imagination with regards to other types of art beyond paintings, such as his infamous "Lobster Telephone" (1936) and the "Mae West Lips Sofa" (1937), although I miss seeing the harp covered with silverware that he made for his friend Harpo Marx. There are also some choice photographs of "Dali the superstar" engaging in the art of self-promotion. Just showing young readers examples of Dali's artwork is enough to get them interested in the artist, but Wenzel takes pain to explain how Dali created his masterpieces and what he was trying to do with some of these pieces. This is one of the more truly educational books I have seem about a great artist written for young readers.

5 comments about Diary of a Genius.

1. It always is helpful to read the insights of a talented artist, such as Dali, but some insights are better left unsaid. The beginning of this book is funny and interesting, specifically concerning the Surrealist and some of Dali's philosophies. As an artist, I would have appreciated more detail about the technical process behind his work. I did find interesting his use of inanimate objects to assist in his process. As a reader, I could have done without reports on bowel movements or the lengthy description of the comparison between "dirty flies" and "clean flies". As I continued throughout the book, I came to the realization that maybe the book title should have been Ode to Gala or Lord of the Flies II. As Dali switches between first person and third person the question of his genius arises. To refer to oneself continuously as a genius the history of this term should be described in more detail.
   The concept of genius has been associated with persons of high intellect although the definition of this word embodies much more. The first refers to an attendant spirit of a person or place. The second states a strong leaning or inclination and third a peculiar, distinctive or identifying character or spirit. Other associations have been made with the word genius such as mad or eccentric.
   All artists try to distinguish themselves apart from other artist. I believe in their ventures of discovery they find a technique unique to them self. Some of the techniques discovered have been unconventional or peculiar but not genius.
   Dali expresses life experiences that are peculiar and unconventional. This brings to the book a unique read that is sometimes easy to follow. Dali's art will remain to be seen as the work of a genius more so because this is how he marketed himself throughout his life. The one important aspect of this book that should inspire all artists is how to learn to market oneself to become successful in the art world.



2. Hilarious and captivating!
   A rollercoaster ride that twists and turns through the mind of Dali offering cohesive dialogue and thoughts blended with undecipherable rants and hallucinations. This book gives the reader an intimate view of an artistic genius through the eyes and actions of Dali. He walks a thin line between genius and madman, mostly the latter. If it were not for his beloved wife Gala there would be no doubt in my mind that he ever would have become anything close to a genius. Gala gave Dali order, anchored him in the real world and created the force behind his paintings.
   
   Dali was definitely the master of creating hype. No matter what he was doing, there would be scandal, controversy and snobbery, as he refers to it. Dali created spectacle from his home in Port Lligat, Spain to his frequent travels to New York and Paris. He was loved by those he reviled and despised by those people he loved primarily Picasso and his own father. Obsessed with bowl movements, buttocks and rhinoceros horns Dali often relied on these images to create the meaning behind his works.
   
   By far one of the best speakers, Dali manipulated his audiences into accepting his approach and ideology on Surrealist art and artists. The media even listened and published numerous articles in newspapers and magazines on the happenings of his life's art. Often playing both sides of a situation, disagreement or battle, he always comes out on top still remaining allies with all parties involved.
   
   I would recommend taking the two or three nights it would take to read this book and jump into the mind of this Surrealist genius/madman, Dali. If you hold on to the end you will experience the revered irrational mindset of this artisan and forever hold a new understanding of Dali's revolutionary ideas and works.



3. Have you ever displayed elephant skulls in front of your home or imagined being a fish, or find yourself fascinated with your own excrement? One very eccentric man did all these things, Mr. Salvador Dali, one of the most famous artists of the Surrealism time. His book turned out to be a bit like his paintings, random and irrational. I felt as if I was reading the incoherent ramblings of a man with a slight case of narcissism. This at times, made the book somewhat difficult to follow. But, I found it to be true "Dalinian" as he would say. Reading about the thought process of some of his work was most intriguing. He seemed to find the "art" in some of the most awkward places. I would suggest familiarizing yourself with his paintings before reading this book. When he spoke of placing things on crutches, using Christian iconography, or drawing inspiration from Gala, you can have a visual idea in your head as you read. The book, however, had very little on the thoughts behind much of his other works. He wrote more about his thoughts on everyday life, popular people of the time, and his wife Gala. The man seemed to really know himself and live his life by his own philosophies no matter how bizarre or what anyone else said. Whether this is how he truly was or lived to portray one huge publicity stunt for the sake of shock value, he is a man that must be recognized for his work. I have to admit, I would rather learn about him through his unique paintings than having to read his book.



4. From 1952 to 1963, Salvador Dali kept a journal, a diary of his thoughts, creative reasoning's, and mindful tangents. In a matter of several hours and 186 pages, I feel as if I have delved far into the mind of a man whose entire life is either nonsense blathering of the brain or philosophical wonders reaching far beyond my own capacities of comprehension. While Diary of a Genius did not keep me in suspense, give me nightmares or have me in tears, the book did touch a part of my brain that doesn't get triggered very often, let alone four hours straight.
   Dali writes daily entries into his diary discussing off-the-wall realizations, urges, drives, and adorations. One of the most interesting aspects of the book was to read the very intimate words of one of the most renowned surrealist painters in the world. Dali talks of his process in working on many pieces in a day-by-day account of his struggles and conquests in painting. He is fueled mainly by his love for his wife Gala, but also by the incisive apprehension and dissection of oddities accumulating in his head. He talks of his bowel movements, his intrigue in Hitler, his subconscious representation of rhinoceros horns, and his love of elephant skulls in the summer.
   Diary of a Genius was, in short, an interesting read that kept me entertained for a short period of time. I am much more knowledgeable of Dali himself and will look at his work now with a new understanding of the peculiar man behind the brush. I would definitely recommend this book to any psychology student looking to analyze the intricate workings of a madman's ways and fantasies of the mind. I would also recommend this book to any fan of Salvador Dali, surrealism, or art in general. I would suggest, and I believe that Dali would agree with me, that this book be read while sitting on the toilet.



5. I was excited to see I got the book within a few days of ordering. Also, it was in excellent condition.

5 comments about Salvador Dali 2v.

1. I have many books on Dali and his artwork. Some I have bought, some others have bought for me, but I was given this book as a gift, and I love it. I have decided that I do not need any of the other books on him, this one has all the famous pieces and more, some of the pictures I never even knew that he had created. Plus it is very informative. This is an amazing book, I would recommend anyone interested in surrealism to buy this book, for its price, it is a steal!



2. Well, at nearly 6kg, a whap in the head with this thing would certainly loosen some screws. That's not what I meant, though.
   
   It's huge, beautiful, and encyclopedic. It covers Dalí's entire career, with all of the different stages he went through in creating his art and himself. There's just too much to try to summarize here - the book takes over 1600 photos to illustrate his life. Most of them depict Dalí's art or Dalí himself (I still suspect that he lived his entire life as a work of performance art). Others depict influences on his art. Some show work by other artists, for contrast or as part of Dalí's heritage. A few show features of the natural world, a rock formation, for example, that the alchemy of Dalí's magic transmuted into new visual elements.
   
   And, throughout, there is Gala - Dalí's wife, agent, manager, muse, model, and tour guide for his visit to planet Earth. I hate the phrase that would call Gala his "better half," but I'm sure that Dalí would have been incomplete in many ways without her. Certainly, his finished works owe much to the way she inspired him.
   
   I fault this wonderful work for only one thing, but one that I find maddening: there is no index. In partial compensation, end matter lists each photo or work of art, in numerical order as they appeared in the book, with provenance and other information about any art shown. A bibliogrpahy would have been nice, too - but no index! With a book like this, it almost feels as if the last twenty pages had been ripped out.
   
   Don't let that bit of pedantry get in the way of enjoying this marvelous collection, though. You might want to supplement this book with some of Dalí's own writing, such as The unspeakable confessions of Salvador Dali or Diary of a Genius, to name only a few. I can't imagine that you'll want another display of his artwork, except maybe the lithos.
   
   -- wiredweird



3. If you ever saw a painting from Dali and want to have a source to go and look, dig and be surprised, then this is the book.
   I am very happy with this book. I made some research before buying this, and this is far the best.
   Maybe you are not an arts fan but you like Dali paintings, then this is the book you want.
   Highly recommendable



4. In order to rightfully qualify as a "definitive" type art book it must posses certain features. (1) - Quality 4 color reproductions true to the original artwork. With a high volume of reprints spanning the course of the artists productivity. (2) - Exemplary narrative text by qualified authorship. Indeed this comprehensive large edition triumphs in these requirements. . . . . . . Robert Descharnes' (the principle author) intimate knowledge stems from his 40 year personal relationship with Dali. Plus his own renouned contributions to art journals make this an interesting read. The reproductions are first-rate. This exact same book had previously been printed (1994) in a smaller format. And contrary to the above amazon stats; this is an 2006 edition. The colors are more accurate in this new edition. This is especially noted in the reproduced paper drawings. And 'Sfumato' was executed using a candle flame to scorch/smoke the paper. Beautifully reproduced here while it was blue in the previous edition. In 'Invention of the Monsters' you can make out the fine marblized grain of the sarcophagus table. In no other text in my Dali collection (#8) is this evident. Yet in 'The Cosmic Athletes' the intracranial contents of one figure is pitch black where it should have tea brown striations. These nuances may be too subtle to nitpick, but worth mentioning. . . . In 1984 Descharnes put out a gigantic sized $$$$ volume. The colors duller. The text good, but scattered. It did include some rare poster projects. None the less this 2006 edition proves to be a wonderful art book. Quoting Dali I'm sure he would agree; "Dali lovers could have sat down at table to feast on me!".



5. I don't know much about art, but this set of two books that contain every Dali painting created over his long life makes me feel like an expert on his many styles! Along with the fantastic full color pictures is a complete biography of his life and explanation of his styles. The set weighs in at nearly 8 lbs! It is well worth the money!

5 comments about 50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship.

1. This book is a must for Dali fans who also have an interest in creating artworks themselves. A good sense of humour is required as much of the writing cannot be taken seriously. Some caution is required when choosing which "practical" suggestions are to be carried out or lessons to be taken literally. Overall a fine light read.



2. mr. S DALI is of course, right out of his mind, however his insanity was very methodical. he was a master. his book: a delightful read for the artist and dali enthusiaist alike. what more do you need to know. informative and entertaining. buy two or more copies because it also makes a great gift for the mad genius in your life.



3. An excellent guide to the development of creative inspiration, whether you are an artist or a writer or a musician. Dali writes with great humor and modesty--just don't take everything he writes literally! The drawings alone make this book a worthwhile addition to anyone's library.



4. It's been a while since I read this book, but I remember it being hilarious in some parts, and very informative in others. Dali discusses painting techniques, color selection, tools, etc., but also explains things like optimal sleep patterns and other eccentric Dali-esque rules.



5. This book is magical. So much great information and insight into Dali's demented head. LOVE IT!

2 comments about Salvador Dali (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists).

1. Beautifully laid out and written in a way that is interesting for Kids. The Humor in this entire series makes it extremely pleasurable and easy to read.



2. I bought 6 books from Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists for my daughter who is 7 years old. We read them together. She liked the books and showed some interest in arts. I suggest this book and other books from this series for all the parents who want their children to learn about art.

1 comments about Dali and the Path of Dreams.

1. Dali is appealing to children because they identify with fantasy, and this book is beautifully done, holding my grandchildren's interest over and over again. We're going to Spain and will see some of his original works, so with this preparation, I'm sure they will have a richer experience seeing the real thing. It's a great book!

5 comments about The Secret Life of Salvador Dali.

1. the book had a little of everything. Salvador Dali can be an interesting writer, and some sections of the book demonstrate this. The early chapters of the book covering his childhood are difficult to trudge through between irrational events and memories and ones that seem plausible. It is not a very good autobiography for recording ones milestones, but I suppose it recorded things that appealed and became ingrained in Dali to become motifs in his art, such as crutches for instance. As the book progressed Dali's philosophy became a little more clear and the book a little more interesting, especially as he and his wife Gala visited America and the world was prepping for World War II. All in all, I would rather have read a straight forward Dali biography than his convoluted auto-biography. You have to be a very tolerant reader to put up episodes that are difficult to visualizse or understand and to keep asking yourself, "Is this true or is Dali dreaming it up?"



2. So original and bizarre, the first half of the book should be made into a movie.



3. I don't write many 5 star reviews, but I really really liked this book. It is truly a peek into a brilliant mind. As an artist, it is impossible for me to read this book and not be inspired. As usual, Dali has his fun with the audience, but that only adds to the greatness of this work.



4. Genius isn't pretty, if we are to deduce that this revelation of the secret life of Salvador Dali is representative of the inner reality of genius in general. For certain, genuine creation isn't pretty, as anyone who's ever witnessed childbirth might attest: it's accomplished by blood, obscenity, mucous, hysterics, farts, and pain. Out of such undifferentiated chaos does one mold the miracle of his creation. So in *The Secret Life of Salvador Dali* we get the "confession" of a man whose life from earliest childhood is replete with incidents, fantasies, attitudes, and behaviors that can only be considered pathological.
   
   But then how much of this memoir is "real" and how much artistic hyperbole is a question open to debate. For Dali consciously mythologizes his life and makes no secret of the fact that much of his "secret life" may not have actually taken place except in his imagination. "The difference," he writes, "between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant." And shortly afterwards he writes of his life that the "all-powerful sway of reverie and myth began to mingle in such a continuous and imperious way with the life of every moment that later it has often become impossible for me to know where reality begins and the imaginary ends." This is Dali's way of winking at the reader--and yet it's an ambiguous wink at best.
   
   For what must always be remembered is that for Dali, the imagination is every bit as "real" in its impact, just as material and plastic, as any historical or anecdotal fact of existence--if anything, the hyper-intensity of Dali's imagination gives his reveries even greater reality. And so Dali, by his own estimation the only true surrealist, presents the story of the first half of his life in its entirety: that's to say, the dreams, visions, and fantasies are given equal weight as the people, facts, and circumstances of conventional autobiography. For the former interact with the latter to produce the uninterrupted "surreality" of the individual life. A man, for instance, who dreams that his best friend has murdered him in his sleep and taken his wife to bed cannot possibly--whether conscious of the fact or not--have lunch with that same friend the next afternoon without his perceptions being altered, right down to his autonomic biological responses, in a very concrete way.
   
   Perhaps the best way to read *The Secret Life of Salvador Dali* is as a kind of absurdist novel about the life and ideas of an eccentric, legendary painter named Salvador Dali. For, indeed, this book very often reads like fiction, studded as it is with bizarre episodes worthy of Kafka or Poe. And yet there is also a good deal of Dali's very down-to-earth philosophy of art in this book: his championing of technique, craft, and discipline, and of the renaissance spirit of the great masters who he admires. These attitudes might surprise many who think of Dali solely as the revolutionary and iconoclastic wild man of surrealism.
   
   Although he's since become synonymous with surrealism, Dali actually considered himself a traditionalist and what made him a real "revolutionary" and ultimately more surreal than the surrealists was, in his view, the fact that he aligned himself with the most conservative aspects of his artistic craft and his Spanish-European-Catholic roots. In fact, it may come as something of a shock to some to find Dali railing against the dissolution of form, of abstraction, of undisciplined experimentation, of the laziness of modern art. From the opening pages when he bombastically declares with mock seriousness his disgust for the formless mush of spinach and his admiration of the rigorous solidity of shellfish, Dali separates himself from the leveling movements in contemporary art, politics, and society, most of which he consigns to the oblivion of the mulch from which the hierarchic tree of a society of true individuals, of the royalty of spirit, art, and culture will inevitably be reborn. Tradition may be chopped down, trampled, burned to ash...but the roots go deeper than revolution. Tradition never dies. Therefore, Dali sides with tradition.
   
   Written when he was barely 38 years old and thus comprising less than half of what would be his allotted life, *The Secret Life* has the feel of a complete autobiography composed from the sober vantage point of the old age Dali cherished and aspired to even as a young man. The text itself is beautifully written/translated--a prose masterpiece of surrealistic metaphor and absurdist hyperbole. An excellent, thought-provoking, and fascinating book from any number of perspectives, *The Secret Life of Salvador Dali* is every bit as unsettling, paradoxical, elusive, contrary, and, ultimately, beautiful, as the paintings for which Dali is so well-known, so misunderstood, and so famous.



5. First of all, let me state that I still really admire Dali's undeniably talented and very imaginative work as an artist. At the time of writing this review, I can still honestly say that Salvador Dali is my favorite visual artist qua artist. However, I never realized how truly horrible of a person he is until I have read this book. In this book, you will find Dali gleefully describing, without any hint of remorse, how he would kick his baby sister in the head amongst other passages where Dali is obviously trying to make the reader uncomfortable, such as his extensive description of getting a piece of dried mucus lodged under his fingernail.
   
   Reading this book really has solidified my perception of Salvador Dali as the kind of individual who takes great pleasure in deliberately confusing, fooling or repulsing an audience. Reading this book will not provide you with insight on the motivation behind Dali's works nor will it offer an honest portrayal of his life. Instead, it will just be an extensive lesson in how Dali would entertain an audience through narration. Sometimes his anecdotes can be quite amusing, which suggests that this book is appropriate for truly devoted fans of the great surrealist. However, I personally found it to be too unpleasant to recommend.