Dalí, surrealism and cinema

de Elliott H. King

One of the most widely recognized and controversial artists of the 20th century, Salvador Dali was also an avant-garde filmmaker, collaborating with such giants as Luis Bunuel, Walt Disney, and Alfred Hitchcock. Influenced by the Marx Brothers, Buster Keaton, and Stanley Kubrick, Dali used the cinema to bring the "dream subjects" of his paintings to life, providing the groundwork for revolutionary forays into television, video, photography, and holography. From a movie going experience that would incorporate all five senses to the tale of a woman's hapless love affair with a wheelbarrow, Dali's hallucinatory vision never fails to leave its indelible mark, while his writings continue to be relevant to discourses surrounding film and surrealism.