Salvador Dali's artwork is surreal in many ways. As an example let's look at his most infamous painting, 'The Persistence of Memory', also known as 'Soft-clocks'. The first thing you notice about the painting is its visual appearance. It is flowing and fluid with such accurate detail that it is looks almost photographic. However the actual anatomy of the painting's focus (The clocks) are totally unrealistic as they are portrayed as melting - not a usual thing to happen to a pocket watch. This distortion of reality that is portrayed as being reality is a common motif of Surreal art. You can draw comparison's in the visual appearance of Dali's works to those of fellow Surreal artist Max Ernst. Another visual aspect to Dali's surreal style is the translucency in his paintings. The seemingly baron landscape in 'The Persistence of Memory' is painted with highly thinned oil-paints, thus allowing him to create a multitude of layers in the painting. A perfect example of this translucency is in the sky where numerous colours seem to be overlapping each other, which heavily contrast to the thick and opaque appearance of the focused clock.
But of course Dali didn't do all this for no reason. Each piece of art has some form of subject matter or concept that drives it. Dali went through numerous phases of topics as a painter (as have all artists). But during this particular time Dali was seemingly steeped in the psychological aspect of the world, this era has been named his 'Freudian stage' as many of his works from this time share common psychological beliefs with the infamous Sigmund Freud. What your daughter needs to do is to look at the visual style of Dali's paintings, which I have already described for her, and apply them to the topic of such paintings. In the case of the psychological 'Soft-clocks' your daughter needs to ask and answer questions such as:
1. Who is Salvador Dali?
- What is his personal background?
- Have there been any experiences in his life that influenced his artwork in any way?
2. In his artwork, what do the images in the painting represent?
-Is the clock a metaphor for something?
- Why is it melting and where did the inspiration for a melting clock come from?
- And what about the swarm of ants on the closed pocket watch? Are they significant?
- The environment within his painting, is it a real place?
- If so where?
2. How does the visual style of the painting convey what the artist is trying to say?
-Is the translucency a visual representation for how his own mind is? Or is it a commentary on those of others?
-Does the fact that Dali painted 'The Persistence of Memory' while he had a terrible migraine after having sleeping trouble, significant to the painting's appearance and presence?
-If so does it relate to any particular motifs of Surrealism in art?
- What are the main aspects of Surrealist art?
3.Are there recurring images and motifs in Dali's artwork that are significant to their Surrealist style?
- How do these relate to the views and opinions of Sigmund Freud?
- Are there other Surrealist artists that use the same/and/or similar images/metaphors/motifs in their artwork?
And finally but most importantly...
4. What is your opinion on Dali's artwork?
- Do you think that it is a justifiable statement to claim that he embodies Surrealism?
- Does he deserve to be perhaps the most famous Surreal artist of all time? Or are there others who you think deserves to sit on that throne?
- Do you believe that Dali's work is subject to too much interpretation and that a lot of the meaning is simply put in there by critics? Or do you believe that Dali's works are heavily conceptually accelerated?
- Has Dali influenced you as an artist?
-If so has it been for the better or for the worst?
- How has Dali's work impacted the global artistic community as a whole? (Are any of his paintings in prestigious museums? Has he influenced other famous artists?)
- Do you think that much of Dali's fame is a result of his curious background and odd public demeanour rather than just simply his art?
These are just the bare bones that you should be builting in your project, if you're looking for a solid A don't forget to flesh the bones out with some extra points of your own and thorough detail (perhaps Dali's time in Surrealist cinema for one?). Treat every project you do as if you were getting paid £1,000,000 for it.
Hope I helped, and all the best of luck!