Salvador Dali's Mustache
Salvador Dali's mustache was a long, thin, waxed mustache twisted into two points that curved sharply upward. He modeled it on the old Spanish master Diego Velazquez and called the two tips his antennae to the universe.
It was not just facial hair. It was a logo, a performance and arguably his most recognizable work.
Here is where the look came from, and why it outlived the man himself.
Where the look came from
Dali did not invent the shape out of nowhere. He copied it from his hero, the seventeenth century Spanish master Diego Velazquez, who wore a similar upturned mustache.
So the most modern face in art was, in part, an homage to a painter dead for three centuries. Even his mustache was a reference.
Antennae to the universe
Dali being Dali, he gave the mustache a cosmic job. He claimed the two waxed tips picked up inspiration straight from outer space.
It was nonsense, and he knew it, and that was the joke. The mustache was the perfect tool for a man who turned himself into a walking spectacle.
A whole book about it
In 1954 Dali and the photographer Philippe Halsman published a book called Dali's Mustache.
It poses 28 questions and answers every one with a photograph of the mustache, twisted into shapes like dollar signs and clock hands. An entire book, and to me it is the purest Dali object there is.
The mustache that became a brand
Most artists are known by a painting. Dali is known by his face.
The curled mustache alone, with no name attached, instantly means Dali, the way a swoosh means a sportswear brand. He had turned his own appearance into a logo. The wilder stunts are in facts about Dali.
What people wonder about the mustache
Why did Dali have that mustache? As a tribute to Velazquez, and as his personal trademark.
What did he call the tips? His antennae to the universe.
Is there really a book about it? Yes, Dali's Mustache, from 1954.
How did he keep it up? With stiff mustache wax, points turned sharply upward.
Did the mustache survive his death? Yes, it was found intact when he was exhumed in 2017.
When Dali's grave was opened in 2017, the mustache was still there, set at ten past ten, exactly as in life.
The waxed points he wore every day may be his most famous creation of all. I dig into the whole restless life in Salvador Dali: The Complete Story, and how the mustache outlived him in how Salvador Dali died.
