What the Dali, yo?

So, I recently read how Dali illustrated Alice in Wonderland as part of a limited edition print run, and I was instantly intrigued. I’ve always enjoyed Dali’s work, and Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite children stories.

Source: williambennettgallery.com

I always loved the original illustrations by John Tenniel, but I’ve often appreciated how other artists have interpreted the text and made the characters their own.

One of John Tenniel’s drawings for  Alice in Wonderland

Learning about this project made me fall down the internet rabbit hole (yeah, cheesy pun intended) looking up more information about him/projects we might not have known about. During that search, we learned that Dali died of heart failure while listening to his favorite album, Tristan and Isolde, so of course I immediately downloaded it. I’ve been listening to it quite a bit in the evenings as I work on my blog and other writing projects, wondering in what ways this piece inspired an artist I have come to admire.

It’s always interesting to me to think about the things that make an artist an artist–the different parts of other influences that have come together to make them who they are. I think about the music I like, the writers I love, the movies that have been most influential to me, and I wonder how obviously and subtly they’ve shaped my own style. I know I especially go through phases after reading a lot of a certain author where I inevitably write like them (this especially happened with Raymond Carver when I first was really finding myself as a writer and devoured his short stories).

What’s inspired you and your art–whether it’s visual art, writing, music or something else?

#music #mywriting #insidemyhead #musings #coolstuff