Introduction “The difference 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” - Salvador Dali (Bender, 2013). Although Salvador Dali may have a bad reputation for bending the truth, he also has a reputation for being an eccentric and creatively unique character. It is this unique quality that makes Dali an interesting subject to evaluate his psyche. Brief Biography Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali y Domenech, or Salvador Dali, was born to Salvador Dali y Cusi and Felipa Domenech Ferres in 1904 in Figueres, Spain. He is best known as a surrealist painter; although he did experiment with many other styles of painting, and he was also a published author, film …show more content…
“The Enigma of Desire: My Mother” is the name of one of Salvador Dali’s paintings that displays what Freud described to be the Oedipus conflict, where boys desire sexual love with their mother and aggressive rivalry with their father, although this is described by Freud to be a symptom of young boys, Dali’s unusual childhood led him to repress many of his feelings which he later expressed through his art, especially after his discovery of Freudian theory (Cloninger 2013, p. 36). Dali’s mother died when he was just 16 years old of cancer, and his father soon after married his mother’s sister. This marriage upset Dali very much because he was very close with his mother, and never quite got along well with his father (Harmon, M.B. …show more content…
Even though Adler states the first-born (which Dali may be considered due to the absence of his older brother) may attempt to become closer to the father after the birth of the next child, because of the loss of the maternal attention, this was not the case for Dali (Cloninger 2013, p. 76). Obviously, there was a complex relationship between Dali and his parents (Harmon, M.B. 2001). Ana Maria and Salvador Dali were very close, especially after the loss of their mother. However, after Ana Maria published her biography of Dali’s life, which was shortly after he published his own autobiography, their relationship collapsed due to his dissatisfaction of how Ana Maria portrayed his life in her writing. Lastly, Adler described the first born to commonly be problem children, even criminals, and Dali definitely displayed these qualities. Dali was described as being a rather cruel child, and was said to have pushed his friend off a bridge with a missing guardrail, just for the sheer fun of it. He remained completely calm and unremorseful throughout the entire event. Dali was also arrested for a short period of time between his first suspension from the Academy of Madrid and his remittance in 1926, which is evidence of his criminal