Salvador Dali The Basket Of Bread Analysis

` Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was a revolutionary artist that is known for his symbolic, dream-like artwork. Dali has artwork, like The Basket of Bread (1945) that doesn’t scream surrealism but is just as symbolic as his other works of art. In 1945 Dali, a 41 year old living in the United States during World War 2, had already been kicked out of the Surrealists and had published his autobiography The Secret Life of Salvador Dali in 1942. His expulsion from the Surrealist movement by Breton came after he displayed sexual fetishes in his art, he showed support to Franco and after Dali’s art piece The Enigma of Hitler 1939 (Editors, 2017). After moving to the United States, his art still possessed surrealist elements but Dali also experimented with more classic values, traditional techniques, science, and the catholic religion resulting in his Nuclear Period (Leal, 2017). Gala, Dali’s wife and the primary reason he is estranged from his father, was also a great inspiration to him at this time in

Dali’s art typically featured symbolic elements that are seemingly not rationally placed and that is reminiscent of a dream and subconsciousness. This piece in 1945 is a more serious and highly detailed artwork, which is interesting since it was made during the time of WWII where many thoughts and fears were circling everyone’s mind and subconsciousness. Like in the 1926 version, the light is coming from the upper left side of the still life and the bread is illuminating as well. In this painting he plays with chiaroscuro in the way he shades and lights the bread on the contrasting dark background (Authors, 2010). While this painting shows a return to order, Dali, in the 40s and beyond, is still experimenting with techniques from various movements including