Horseman

1936

A lecture in a diving suit in London

At the International Surrealist Exhibition in London Dalí lectured in a deep-sea diving suit and helmet, which had to be unscrewed when he gasped for breath. “I just wanted to show that I was plunging deeply into the human mind,” he said.

July 1936

The Spanish Civil War and Lorca's death

The Civil War found Dalí in London. On learning that his friend Lorca had been executed by Nationalist forces, he claimed to have shouted “Olé!”, yet he referred to the poet in his art and writings for the rest of his life; he never took a public stand for or against the Republic.

December 1936

MoMA show and the cover of Time

Dalí took part in MoMA's “Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism” and held a solo show at Julien Levy's; “Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War)” drew particular attention. On 14 December the 32-year-old Dalí was on the cover of Time magazine.

March 1938

Meets Sigmund Freud

Thanks to Stefan Zweig, Dalí met Freud and sketched his portrait; Freud whispered, “That boy looks like a fanatic.” The next day Freud wrote to Zweig that he had regarded the Surrealists as complete fools, but “that young Spaniard, with his candid fanatical eyes” had changed his estimate.

April 1939

The break with Buñuel

Soon after Franco's victory in the Civil War, Dalí wrote to Luis Buñuel denouncing socialism and Marxism and praising Catholicism and the Falange, and Buñuel broke off relations with him.

May 1939

Breton expels him from the Surrealists

In the May issue of Minotaure André Breton announced Dalí's expulsion from the Surrealist group, accusing him of espousing race war and repudiating Surrealist automatism. Many Surrealists then broke off relations with him.