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Summary Of The Hallucinogenic Toreador

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Stately nudes inhabiting the kaleidoscopic bullring. Flies swarming about the place like darts of coal. A dwarf-like boy anchoring the right side of the canvas with a sailor cap and hoop. Has been a description for the painting “The Hallucinogenic Toreador” that was painted by the eclectic Salvador Dali from 1969 to 1970. Dali was around 66 years old by the time he produced this massive canvas of 157 by 118 inches, it was one of the last large scale works he would ever complete. Dali abandoned monumental works because he was devoting his time and energy to building his grand museum and mausoleum in Figueres, Spain, his Catalan hometown. The Hallucinogenic Toreador contain symbols and imagery from his early art periods. Mashing together surrealism, the many figures from Millet’s The Angelus painting, with nuclear mysticism (i.e. the dissolving flies), this large scale canvas is all over the place stylistically and chronologically. It contains a poignant double image of two very interesting and disparate characters: Venus de Milo and Manolete. The archetype of Western beauty and ideality, the no-armed Venus is a Hellenistic statue from ancient Greece. Within her multiple forms (there are 31 Venus’ in total) is hidden a double image containing the face of Manolete, a famous bullfighter from Spain. Born in Cordoba on July 4th, 1917, Manuel Laureano Rodriguez Sanchez (Manolete) came from a family of notable bullfighters; however, he was destined to become the most beloved
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