I have sat in the temple of surrealistic greatness and I wept at the beauty. I have been so extremely fortunate to have visited the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, FL on several occasions. Each visit was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life and words do not exist to convey the spectacle and pageantry housed in this building. It is breathtaking, it is beautiful, it was an experience like no other for me. It probably goes without saying that Dali is my favorite artist. There are so many reasons for that, namely because he is the most iconic and talented surrealist artist in the history of the arts and his personality is just as twisted as his art. That's the way I adore my favorite artists, musicians, and actors....talented.....but a bit twisted inside....just like the rest of us! lol
Just as with any celebrity one might find themselves obsessed with, I thought I had a pretty firm grasp on the works Dali had participated in from his paintings, photo collabs, and movies. So imagine my surprise and delight when I first heard of Destino, his animated collaboration with Walt Disney that was initiated in the 1940s and not completed and fully released to the public until 2003. It was on one of my meccas to his museum with my wife when we were dating that we actually were able to view this masterpiece in its entirety in a special theater inside the museum. I won't even attempt to put the emotions, impact, and lasting effects of this short animated film into words, because I will fail miserably. Suffice it to say that it MOVED me in a profound and life-long way!
One of the most fascinating elements of this tapestry on animated genius is that it is only 6 1/2 minutes long! That's it! It only took Dali and Disney 6 1/2 minutes to transform ones soul and being through the marriage of their respective art mediums. That.....Is......Genius! Anyone even rudimentarily familiar with the stylistic approach Dali takes to creating art will instantly see his DNA saturated and fully embedded in this piece. When you see this, you see Dali and all the talent this man possessed. He was so far ahead of his time that it is a miracle he was even recognized for this greatness during his lifetime.
I feel it speaks volumes about this short animated film that it was so powerful that a full-length documentary, Dali and Disney: A Date with Destino, was created and has a runtime of 1hr and 20 minutes to extoll the virtues and mysteries of a 6 1/2 minute animated short! If you haven't seen this yet, I highly recommend it! Thank you so much for reading my post and remember that I love you all as much as I do melting clocks!!!! lolol
All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter,
Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
-Tolkien
