Salvador Dalí
 

The media has continually described him as a genius artist and an eccentric in everyday life. He understood in time that the public loves to be seduced. This is why he happily gave them what they asked for, and always found new ways to shock them. Thus, he once described his famous moustache as being his “antennae for communication with the universe”. Another time, he went even further and said:

“The only difference between a madman and myself is that I am not mad.”

The stars confirm that Salvador Dalí was not mad, but to the contrary, exceptionally intelligent.

Salvador Dalí was born on May 11, 1904 in the Catalan town of Figueras, located at the foot of the Pyrenees. He was born under the sign of artistically inclined Taurus, with his Ascendant in the sign of intuitive Cancer, and his Moon in the sign of aggressive Aries. The powerful embrace between the Sun, symbol of the ego, Mercury, symbol of the intellect, and aggressive Mars at the time of his birth reveals that he was an intelligent and spiritual man, a true volcano of energy who adored provoking others. Furthermore, this stellium is located in the sign of artistically sensitive Taurus, thus showing that Dalí was a visual with innate artistic talent. As well as a man ready to do anything for money and comfort. The preponderance of his house of friends (11^th) reveals that in crucial moments, his friends would help him the most. His house of reputation and career (10^th) is privileged, because of the presence of Jupiter, planet of good fortune, and Venus, protector of the arts. The Moon is in the Zenith, showing that Dalí innately knew how to take the pulse of the public, and that women would be decisive in his career.

The close contact between Mercury, symbol of the brother, and aggressive Mars in the field of the evil star Algol reveals that a family tragedy preceded the birth of Dalí. More precisely, his elder brother, who bore the same name, died of meningitis when he was three years old. Even though he had never met his brother, Dalí felt bound to him. He would say one day on this subject:

“He is my shadow-god, for we are like Castor and Pollux. I am Pollux, the immortal brother, and he is Castor, the mortal brother. I kill him on a regular basis, because the Divine Dalí cannot have anything in common with this previously earthly being.”

Salvador Dalí’s father, although rich and able to assure his family a comfortable life, was known for his cruelty. Because of this, little Salvador accumulated enormous anger and aggressiveness within himself. Later, these qualities would manifest themselves in his rejection of authority and search for the limits of tolerance in others. Unable to take revenge on his father for his lack of sensitivity, Dalí would find compensation in the way that he shocked the people close to him. He masked his lack of assurance with his arrogance. He wrote in his autobiography:

“At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon and when my ambition became enormous I decided to become Salvador Dalí.”

With the Sun in Taurus and the Ascendant in Cancer, Dalí seemed at first glance to be a calm and ordinary person. However, the stellium in Taurus, associated with Algol, as well as the Moon, ruler of the horoscope, in a dissonant relationship with eccentric Uranus located in the house of work (6^th) attest to his genius and his eccentricity. Furthermore, the bad vibrations sent to the Moon from Neptune, located in the house of the unconscious self (12^th), indicate madness. Thus, Uranus and Neptune, although apparently secondary, become the most important planets in his chart.

His artistic talent was noticed early, from the beginning of his schooling. Nevertheless, he began to focus and develop his artistic talent from the age of ten, when his father enrolled him in painting courses. When one founds one’s way in something, everything becomes easy. Whereas Dalí drove his teachers crazy from primary school to college, because of his intemperance and his laziness, during his painting courses he paid attention and showed amazing skill. In the beginning, he really liked the impressionists, and he later took more of an interest in the cubists. Aside from painting, Dalí was also interested in literature, French literature and philosophy in particular. He also wrote essays on the great painters.

This is why it was not surprising that, at the age of 18, he enrolled in the prestigious San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid. This is where he became friends with the director Luis Buñuel and the writer Federico García Lorca. Finding himself far from the conservative Catalan environment, his youthful rebelliousness and desire to be accepted pushed him towards modern art, which rejected all the conventions of society. Furthermore, Dalí responded to Lorca’s advances and they became lovers. “Dear Federico, look how gently I am going to now write your name with a breath: Federico García Lorca. Do you love me? Come quickly to Figueras”, Dalí wrote in a letter to Lorca. However, their love affair was short-lived. Dalí was expelled from the school in 1923. In fact, he dared to say that none of his professors could grade him, for he was better than all of them. This did not prevent him from continuing to paint. Then, in 1925, when Jupiter transited his house of work (6^th), he had his first show in Barcelona. The critics and public were enchanted by this young painter who knew how to portray his visions in an almost photographic manner. Dalí was then congratulated for his extraordinary technique by Pablo Picasso, an already recognized painter.

The prophesy of the stars, which predicted that women would help him in his career, began to be fulfilled in 1929. Eccentric Uranus in transit triggered his natal Moon, symbol of feelings and the spouse, and continued to move through his house of reputation and career. During this time, the North Node passed through his sign, Taurus. This marked a strange turn in his career and an eccentric romantic experience. In fact, he could not dream of anything more eccentric than his meeting with Gala, his future wife and muse. Gala was the wife of his friend, the poet Paul Éluard. She was nine years older than him and lived promiscuously. This experienced woman knew how to awaken the dozing passions of a 25-year-old Dalí, who gradually made her his idol. This is what is revealed by the harmonious relationship of Venus, planet of love, and Neptune, planet of illusions. His friend Luis Buñuel wrote one day:

“Entirely asexual in his youth, he made fun of his friends who liked to go after women, until the day when Gala took his virginity. He then wrote me a 6-page letter explaining all of the beauty of physical love.”

His ex-lover Lorca could not believe his ears:

“It’s impossible, he confided to a friend. Women don’t arouse him.”

Nevertheless, apart from sex, other links existed between Dalí and Gala, such as, for example, the passion for fame, money, and power. This is why Gala took care that her lover became the new star of the surrealist movement in Paris. She organized his shows and attended to the sale of his paintings. “Gala saved me from madness,” he would later declare. In Paris, Dalí met the fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, Coco Chanel, and the Rothschild family. Helena Rubenstein, whose portrait he painted in 1946, said of him:

“He is nothing but fire and maliciousness.”

Despite his cruelty, Dalí conquered people with his irresistible charm, his inexhaustible energy and his incomparable talent.

– Is it true that Gala was unfaithful to him, even at an older age, and why did Dalí put up with it?

One of the reasons why Gala wanted to marry Dalí was the fact that he did not reproach her for her relations with other men. What he liked most about sex was being able to watch. In fact, their close friends knew that Dalí loathed being touched, and considered masturbation to be the most evolved form of sex. The stars confirm his voyeurism. In fact, the great concentration of planetary energy in Taurus at the moment of his birth reveals that Dalí was a visual. On the other hand, the Moon, symbol of feelings, located in the sign of aggressive Aries and attacked by Uranus and Neptune, indicates a maimed sensitivity, a man who became aroused quickly and quickly lost interest in love making. Stern Saturn, located in the house of sex (8^th), reveals that little Dalí probably witnessed the sexual problems of his parents, which pushed him to close up on the emotional level and promise himself that he would never allow a person to subjugate and control him. In other terms, because of his fear of betrayal and sex, there is a large probability that Dalí was impotent. This explains why he tolerated Gala’s infidelity and even offered her the castle of Pubol, where she could meet her lovers without constraint. Dalí himself never went there except when invited by Gala. This explains why, when they lived in America, Dalí took pleasure in charming rich American women. Yet, after taking them away to his apartment and encouraging them to undress, he chased them away. However, the position of Saturn in the house of sex and inheritance as well as the strained relations between the planets in Taurus show another thing. Dalí would lose his inheritance. And in fact, nauseated by his choice of wife, his father had disinherited him.

– Is it true that Dalí was a fascist sympathizer?

The greatest truth is that Dalí felt sympathy for money and was ready to do anything to acquire it. As a member of the surrealist movement, he leaned towards Marxism as his friends Buñuel and Lorca also did. However, Gala was of Russian origins. She knew what the communists had done in Russia and felt uneasy towards them. This is why Dalí tried to kill two birds with one stone. He showed compassion for his wife and financially secured his future by courting the new leader of Spain, General Franco. To this end, he sent a telegram of congratulations to Franco when the General condemned his opponents to death. This is when Andre Breton, the most influential French writer of the time, called Dalí “Avida Dollars”, which is an anagram of his name, and expelled him from the surrealist movement. Thus, Dalí and Gala lived in America during the second world war. When they came back to Spain in 1948, in the true style of hedonistic Taurus, Dalí explained his reasons for returning with a quasi-astrological precision:

“The food in Great Britain and America is barbaric. A nation that eats barbaric food cannot give birth to great painters. Cuisine is a close relative of painting. When you cook, you add a little of this, a little of that. You taste, you assess. In the end, you arrive at a good taste, and this is similar to the mixture of colors.”

– Why are there so many copies signed by Dalí on the art market?

As a true Taurus and lover of comfort, Dalí really liked money and spent it in an excessive manner. The close contact between the Sun and Mercury reveals that he was open to any scheme that would help him make more. He said one day on the subject of money:

“Wisdom came to me very early. I learned that Cervantes, the greatest glory of Spain, ended up in prison and that Columbus, who gave an entire continent to Spain, also ended up in prison. This is why I decided to pay more attention than them. It is a fabulous feeling to know that your money is multiplying in the bank, lots of money, piles of money.”

And as the feeling of having lots of money is fabulous, when Dalí fell ill and had difficulty painting, even though his fortune was then estimated at some 30 million dollars, he and Gala came up with a new system to generate wealth. Thus, Dalí signed blank sheets of paper and sold them to art dealers for ten dollars per sheet, so that they could print some of his old lithographs on them. Dalí calculated that in one hour he could sign 1,000 sheets, and this represented lots of money. The idea worked well in the beginning, as long as the French police did not seize a lot of 40,000 sheets signed by Dalí. This is what pushed the reputable art dealers to put an end to this practice.

In June 1982, when Saturn, enforcer of destiny, and Pluto, the master of souls, went through his house of home (4^th), Gala died. He had lived over fifty years with her. Even though he had detested and despised her during the last few years, he could not function without her. He was already affected by Parkinson’s disease, rarely left his house, and did not trust anyone. He was constantly surrounded by nurses who he could not stand. That is why he often screamed at them, insulted them, did not take his medications, and deliberately wet his sheets, giving them even more work. At the end, when his life had become tedious and death did not come to help him, he decided to help it. He refused to eat and removed his IV’s. Finally, on January 23 1989, when Jupiter in transit was found in his sign and crossed his stellium, God took pity on him and allowed his soul to abandon his tormented body. After his death, his body was embalmed and today rests in the museum of Figueras, which quite evokes his style. A dozen enormous stone eggs, symbols of the immortality of the creative spirit, are found on the roof of the museum.

 

 
 

 
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