Salvador Dali and M.C. Escher

The artists that I am comparing in my paper come from two different backgrounds, yet in some ways, the deep psychological and philosophical message that their works reflect, together with their shared fascination with the insect-world, bring them together.


Salvador Dali, a poor farmer’s son   (1904-1989) was born in Spain, and throughout his childhood, according to him, he was treated like royalty by his parents because they thought he was the incarnation of his dead brother, who died nine months before he was born. This treatment by his parents constantly reminded him of death and soon, he developed into a personality who lived in his own world and reality. Dali, throughout his career, went through harsh periods. He was expelled from his art school, expelled from the surrealist movement, was also kicked out of his father’s house by his father and had to move to a different country because of the war in Europe.   All of these stages had an impact on Dali and they all reflect in his art, where he mostly draws decaying corpses, disturbing images and insects.   He later developed a theory known as “paranoiac- critical” method to enter alternative method of reality. Later, He also drifted in his own path going away from the surrealism and developed his own surrealist trademark, totally different from the works of the surrealists of that time and his   work were often branded as   “Dalism”.


My next artist is Maurits C. Escher (1898-1972) who was born a civil engineer’s son in Holland. Because of his father’s influence, he enrolled in an architectural school but later, his emphasis changed from architecture to drawing and printmaking. He is known for his enigmatic spatial effects by combining various—often conflicting vantage points, for example, looking up and down at the same time. Like Dali, because of the war, he also had to move to various countries, which also had an impact on his subject matter. His interests in creating buildings in his works slowly...