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The Average Bureaucrat
Date: 1930
Material Used: Oil on canvas
Size: 31 7/8 x 25 3/4 inches
Dali's father was a powerful figure responsible for land transactions in Figueres' agricultural community. He is the "bureaucrat" of this painting's title. He was stocky and outspoken; intelligent but short-tempered. He encouraged Dali's talent and supported his artistic studies, but had serious concerns about his son's future. In many ways Dali was his father's opposite, being slender and timid. He was also intelligent but ill-behaved. Despite his father's support, Dali grew defiant as a young man, seeking ways to challenge, shock or disappoint his father. In 1929, they had a vicious falling-out over Dali's involvement with Gala, a married woman, ending in his banishment from the family. For five years they did not speak to each other.
In Dali's writings, he was obsessed with the mythological figure of Oedipus, whose father attempted to have him murdered, and he describes other classic father-son struggles, including Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son and Saturn's devouring his children. In contrast to these violent father figures, here the father is an ineffectual bureaucrat. Distinguished by a large mustache and bald head, he is naked, his eyes are closed, and his head is down, showing no interest in the external world. He has no ears to hear anyone's words, and his head contains small shells and pebbles. Through such images, Dali effectively diminishes his father's power and importance.
In contrast, a tiny image can be seen to the left of the bureaucrat's head. It is a father and young son holding hands, a reminder of Dali's youth when he and his father were close. Throughout his life, Dali's father wrote his son in and out of the family will, reflecting their turbulent relationship. When his father passed away in 1950, Dali was disinherited in the final will.
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