–noun
1. apathy or boredom.
2. laziness or indifference in religious matters.
Again I'm compelled to discuss the cooky Spanish painter, Salvador Dalí.
There was a period in his life where his paintings began to exhert a mental tiredeness, an acedia, if you will. In 1934 Dalí sent a letter to Josep Vicenç Foix i Mas telling his friend not to dwell too much on "my physical depression, as it is a very frequent occurence among people of our type. Despite my priveleged (as you suppose) position of a painter, I've had moments of irational anxiety without any conscious motive" (Etherington-Smith, 173).
There are a number of reasons why Dalí may have wearing down, so to speak. It has been speculated that his wife Gala's sexuality was beginning to tire him. Their sexual relationship, always delicately balanced, had degenerated into voyeurism. Henri Pastoreau, a student on the fringe of the Surrealist circle, attended "sexual investigation sessions" conducted by Gala and Dalí. These explored the particpants' sexual behavior and fantasies. No women other than Gala were allowed to attend, and Gala, according to Pastoreau, "wouldn't hesitate to describe in the crudest detail her wildest debaucheries, but she always added that surgery had stopped her from continuing with this." Dalí was almost always quiet during these sessions, unless he had "some new and delirious fantasy, always of a scatalogical kind." On other occasions, Gala would make love to men in front of Dalí, once with her former husband, Paul Éluard.
This sense of boredom can be seen particularly well in three paintings from 1934-1935:
My Cousin Carolineta on the Beach at Roses
Atmospheric Skull Sodomozing a Grand Piano
Atavistic Dusk
It has also been speculated that his relationship with famous Andalusian poet Frederico García Lorca was at the forefront of his mind while painting these pieces, but that's another post all together.
These paintings portray Cape Creus, Dalí's hometown, and suggest that the painter was looking at his childhood, adolescence and early youth for inspiration. This was a time before Gala had changed his life forever. It has thus been speculated that Dalí's marriage had become a sort of prison for him. He was dependent on Gala for everything except his work. She was both a mother and wife to him (he had lost his mother at the age of 16), but she was also incredibly demanding. At this point in Dalí's life, his work was the most important link between the two of them. Perhaps in his state of acedia he foresaw a fate that he knew he could never escape.
Work cited:
Etherington-Smith, Meredith. The Persistence of Memory: A Biography of Dalí. London: Sinclair-Stevenson, 1992.
All of this information is quite interesting. It seems like he was stuck at a crossroads in his relationship with his wife. He "loved" her so much that he did not want to part with her, but to remain with her, he had to let her go in whatever direction she desired... which was, seemingly, away from him. Is it worth it to hold onto a relationship that has lost the aspects that made it a relationship in the first place?
ReplyDeleteThe first word that came to mind when I looked at those paintings was "bleak". Each of them seems to have a lot of open space. There's a sense of emptiness that could definitely be connected with acedia. Very interesting!
ReplyDeleteThey do convey emptiness, don't they? As for the free-wheeling sexual lifestyle of Dali and his wife, it may not be atypical at all for people who live on the edge like that, to suddenly become listless and indifferent. Take Emma Bovary, for example (I'll hush up about her soon, I promise)... people with pathological psychological issues (like her, Dali and his wife) seem to wake up and realize they're bored out of their minds. What they want remains elusive, so they temporarily give up on finding it until something prompts them to throw themselves again into the pursuit of it.
ReplyDeletePoor Miss Emma! I learned a lot from your post! Had not heard of the history or psychological challenges facing Dali and his relationships, work and so on. Very interesting, indeed, and the paintings are quite symbolic.
ReplyDeleteFarte, in most cases I would have to say no, it's not worth it to hold on to such a relationship... but Dalí and Gala didn't have a normal relationship to begin with. Theirs was one based on mutual need - hers for money and his need for someone to handle the practicalities of his day to day life. As they grew older, the lack of a loving foundation became more glaringly apparent, and they even grew to dislike each other in some ways.
ReplyDeleteIm so glad you talked about Dali. Now, I will have to find more info.about the relationship he had with Lorca. He was a very interesting guy!
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