The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Salvador Dalí on Decadence, Death and Immortality: The 1958 Interview

Between 1957 and 1960, iconic television personality Mike Wallace — who anchored the first documentary on homosexuality — hosted a series of 30-minute conversations with luminaries from the era known as The Mike Wallace Interview. We’ve previously seen him discuss morality and love Ayn Rand. In 1958, Wallace interviewed the great Salvador Dalí, then 53, making for a fascinating discussion of “decadence, death and immortality.” We see a heavily accented Dalí face a mildly mocking, partly confused, wholly curious Wallace to discuss everything from surrealism to nuclear physics to chastity to what artists in general contribute to the world. The footage is a true time-capsule of the moment, from Dalí’s famous third-person narratives of himself to the extended tobacco commercial prefacing the program, but more importantly, a genuine testament to the power of combinatorial creativity as we marvel at the great painter’s remarkable curiosity and vast pool of cross-disciplinary inspiration, from ancient philosophy to psychology to antimatter.

Dalí paints the Atomic Age and the Freudian Age — nuclear scenes and psychoanalytic scenes.” ~ Salvador Dalí

The interview is almost a caricature, though one that makes you truly grasp the gravity with which Dalí took his work, himself and his delightfully grandiose persona. When asked who the greatest contemporary painters are, he responds in a matter-of-factly manner, “First Dalí. Then, Picasso.” Wallace, half-mockingly, concludes: “The two geniuses of modern times are Dalí and Picasso.”

I cannot understand why human beings should be so little individualized, why they should behave with such great collective uniformity. I do not understand why when I ask for a grilled lobster at a restaurant, I’m never served a cooked telephone.” ~ Salvador Dalí

Scattered throughout the interview are a number of references to 50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship, Dalí’s excellent semi-biography, offering a revealing look at the mind and creative process of the eccentric genius.


Published August 12, 2011

https://www.themarginalian.org/2011/08/12/salvador-dali-mike-wallace-interview/

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