Famous Artists - Stage 4 Comp - Dali - Comprehension Pack.pdf

STAGE 4 Unit focus: Famous Artists Text focus: Biography Dali When Salvador Dali was born in 1909, he was named after somebody who had recently passed away. That person had been his older brother, who died nine months before Dali was born. As he grew up, he began to believe that he was actually his...

STAGE 4 Unit focus: Famous Artists Text focus: Biography Dali When Salvador Dali was born in 1909, he was named after somebody who had recently passed away. That person had been his older brother, who died nine months before Dali was born. As he grew up, he began to believe that he was actually his brother in another form. This was something that his parents fully supported, and perhaps explains why some of his artwork was very strange. Strange or not, Dali’s artwork is some of the most influential and recognisable in the last few hundred years. He specialised in a type of art called surrealism. This was an artistic movement where artists painted dream-like sequences and bizarre or impossible situations. They were often based on their own dreams and could contain hidden meanings and messages. In many of Dali’s paintings, things seem to be twisting or melting into new objects. Items were often reflected as well. In his 1937 painting “Metamorphosis of Narcissus”, Dali painted a large hand emerging from the ground holding an egg. It is almost identical to the body of a man kneeling down in a pool of water next to it. It wasn’t just the obvious parts of Dali’s artwork that seemed strange. In Metamorphosis, there is a large chessboard in the background with a statue placed on top. There are also strange people dancing for no reason. These background details were typical of surrealist paintings, especially those by Dali. Dali’s love of surrealism came about whilst he was living in Paris. He had a ended art school but was expelled for insulting the teachers. When he moved to Paris, he met several surrealist artists and fell in love with the movement. They began to experiment with strange designs and sculptures. One thing that they enjoyed doing was pu ng together two unlinked objects to make something new. Dali decided to a ach a lobster to the handset of a telephone. War broke out in Spain in 1936. Dali was born in Spain, and the war upset him a lot. He began to paint pictures that showed how he felt, but of course, they were surrealist. In one, he shows a man and a woman distorted like they are made of a all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com liquid. They are using spoons to eat bits of each other. He said that it represented the way that Spain was destroying itself by going to war. Dali also worked with Hollywood movie producers, including Walt Disney. In 1945, the pair began working on a story called “Destino”. It wasn’t finished until 2003, long after they had both died. You might recognise Dali if you saw a photo of him. He was famous for his long, thin moustache and eccentric style. He died in 1989 in the same town where he was born. RETRIEVAL FOCUS 1. Which of his paintings included a hand holding an egg? 2. What type of painting was Dali most famous for? 3. What makes that type of painting unique? 4. Which two items did Dali combine as a sculpture early on in his career? 5. Which famous animator did Dali work with? S S V V V VIPERS QUESTIONS How might his name have explained why Dali was slightly odd? What event in Spain influenced Dali’s work? Which word means “disfigured” or “in a strange shape”? Find and copy a word that means “exactly the same”. What is a “metamorphosis”? all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com