John Lennon and Salvador Dalí: A surreal connection
It wouldn’t be too shocking to find out that all-around cultural phenomenon and psych-rock pioneers, The Beatles, may have crossed paths with the man behind some of the most hallucinogenic paintings to grace a canvas: Salvador Dalí. Only John Lennon, however, had the pleasure of enjoying the eccentric painter’s company.
The Liverpool foursome was known for fraternising with the cultural, philosophical and spiritual trailblazers of the late 1960s, hanging out with the likes of Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary and the Dalai Lama. Unfortunately, Paul, George and Ringo never got the opportunity to meet with the globally renowned artist. But, on March 24th, 1969, thanks to their mutual friend in photographer Robert Whitaker, John Lennon and Salvador Dalí met for lunch in Paris.
The specific details of this sit-down between two gargantuan figures in their respective artistic fields remain unknown to all but the present parties. One can only guess what they said to each other about art, music and where the world was headed. In fact, there’s every chance they didn’t cover any of these topics at all. Whatever was spoken about, we’ll never know, but what we do know is that the two cultural innovators had more in common than just a mutual friend.
Childhood memories usually inform the work of any artist, but Lennon and Dalí both had unconventional and sometimes unpleasant experiences growing up, particularly in relation to their parents. Dalí was the second child in his family to be born but the first to live longer than two years old. Born exactly nine months after his brother’s death and bearing an uncanny resemblance, Dalí’s parents became convinced that he was the reincarnation of their dead child, hence giving him the same name: Salvador. From an early age, he was taken to his sibling’s grave and reminded by his parents of his supposed incarnate origins.
Whilst not as superstitious an experience, Lennon’s early years were no less distressing. Raised by his aunt after his own mother forfeited custody, Lennon enjoyed relative peace before his estranged father, supposedly missing in action on the battlegrounds of World War II, appeared out of nowhere to claim his son. What followed was a tense and traumatic argument between his mother and father in which his dad demanded Lennon, aged only six at the time, make a decision about who he wanted to live with. Lennon stayed with his maternal family, but the psychological scars from the incident remained.
Not just content with creating art, Lennon and Dalí both had a distinct penchant for performing publicity stunts too. Dalí, with his bizarre obsession with cauliflowers, would regularly arrive at events in limousines filled to the brim with the vegetable. On another occasion, he delivered a lecture to a room full of students wearing a full scuba-diving suit.
Lennon, on the other hand, famously staged the ‘Bed-ins for Peace’ with Yoko Ono, a protest against the Vietnam War which involved being bedridden in a hotel for two weeks straight. And who could forget his quip to reporters in 1966, “We’re more popular than Jesus”, which sent a shockwave through Christian America and caused hundreds of their records to be burned.
From the unbridled support they had from their guardians to pursue creativity to their refusal to sit behind the wheel and drive, the similarities between the two go on. And whilst we can’t know what happened when the two eventually did meet, the fact that Dalí had a picture of Lennon hanging from his wall can confirm that at least one of them made an impression on the other.
You can see Ben Kingsley portray the artist in the upcoming biopic, Dalíland, below.