In the conservative and catholic Spain of 1922, at the eve of the Spanish Civil War, Dali who was only 18, already wishes to become a genius. He meets Federico Garcia Lorca and Luis Bunuel at the Madrid University. They soon become the nucleus of the modern group. Federico Garcia Lorca is infatuated with Salvador Dali and their friendship becomes more and more intimate. The love shared by the two artists reached a then morally forbidden level and Dali, lacking courage, decides to move to Paris. So eager for fame (he was nicknamed Avida Dollars by André Breton), he attends the evenings of the high society and gets entangled with Gala (Elena Dmitrievna Diakonova), a woman eager for celebrities. The surrealist painter is 10 years younger than the Russian. Gala was married to Paul Eluard and though she became Dali’s wife, she continued to be very close with Eluard. Dali who compared women with a praying mantis, was said to be a virgin when he met Gala. Later, he was known for exposing his wife for others voyeuristic pleasure.

Salvador Dali, however, continued to praise Federico Garcia Lorca when his poems were banned by the Spanish fascist regime. The sulphureous painter also supported Franco. Amanda Lear, the famous transsexual and Dali’s egeria, was often invited at Cadaqués and both were bound by a lifelong friendship. Amanda Lear started painting on the master’s advice. The haughty Dali used to say: « Every morning, upon awakening, I experience a supreme pleasure: that of being Savador Dali » and enjoyed showing his nudity, as a child, to those who came and wake him up.

Paul Morrison’s recent movie « Little Ashes » describes the love affair between Dali and Lorca. It is a real heartbreaking story in which Robert Pattinson is Dali and Javier Beltran is Lorca. The film was named after Dali’s 1927-28 painting « Cenicitas » (Little Ashes).

At the end of his extravagant and ambiguous life, Salvador Dali declared he had several homosexual relations, the first one being with Federico Garcia Lorca. He also always said he was impotent and equally « a perfect polymorphic pervert ». He never had children and Gala underwent a hysterectomy in 1936. George Orwell wrote about Dali: « One ought to be able to hold in one’s head simultaneously the two facts that Dali is a good draughtsman and a disgusting human being. The one does not invalidate or, in a sense, affect the other ». Federico Garcia Lorca was shot in 1936, his magnificent poems were banned by Franco’s regime until 1953. A statue of Lorca was erected in Madrid in recent years and the branches of the olive-tree where he died often receive hand-written extracts of his works.

Salvador Dali,  “Cenicitas”  (Little Ashes) 1927-28

Image source: http://arthistory.about.com/od/from_exhibitions/ig/dali_retrospective/dali_pma_05_03.htm

Statue of Federico Garcia Lorca in Madrid

Image source: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Garcialorca_madrid_lou.jpg

The olivee-tree where Federico Garcia Lorca was shot in 1936.

Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lorca_Olive_Tree.jpg

Poster of the Film  “Little Ashes” by Paul Morrison.

Image source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LittleAshes_poster.jpg

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