Artwork in your home or office is a great mood setter. It can soothe, enliven, brighten and subdue. And, it can inspire.
If you're looking to some of history's great artistic minds to help you find your own creative spark, you may consider browsing through Salvador Dali's paintings.
Dali (1904-1989) was a surrealist painter and one of the last century's greatest creatives. Not only was he a lauded and prolific painter, but he aimed to plumb the depths of the human mind--ananalogy he took so far as to show up at an art function wearing a deep-sea diver's costume, which almost suffocated him.
His artwork, and his eccentric dress and lifestyle, were all a result of his unfettered creativity. Dali sought not only to create great things, but to be recognized for his creations. “Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings,” he once said.
While the recipe for his own je-ne-sais-quoi was notoriously secret (another quote: “The secret to my influence has always been that it remained secret.”), he did let on about his creative method. He called it “paranoiac-critical activity,” and it basically consisted of him letting his mind meander while he meditated.
Consider what is probably his most famous painting, The Persistence of Memory. The barren landscape, the melting watches--let your mind wander through it--doesn’t it spark something in you? Meditative Rose is another of Dali’s great images to ponder. A floating flower, above a desert plain. Does this speak of the human condition? Our potentials and possibilities?
For others, Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate, A Second Before Awakening, despite having one of the longest titles of famous artwork, is the best place to start their own meditation. Sleep, Mirage, Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man--all of these paintings offer a wealth of images to help your own brain go "outside the box."
Browse through some of the works by Dali on our website, and find something to spark your own creativity. As Dali himself said, "those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing."
