Editing Salvador Dalí (section)

=== Politics and religion ===
[[File:Salvador Dalí with Francisco Franco and Carmen Polo 1970.jpg|thumb|Dalí welcomes Spanish dictator [[Francisco Franco]] and his wife [[Carmen Polo]] during their official visit to [[Peralada]], June 1970]]
As a youth, Dalí identified as communist, anti-monarchist and anti-clerical,<ref>Gibson, Ian (1997) pp. 64–67, 83–84</ref> and in 1924 he was briefly imprisoned by the [[Miguel Primo de Rivera|Primo de Rivera dictatorship]] as a person "intensely liable to cause public disorder".<ref>Gibson, Ian (1997), pp. 113–14</ref> When Dalí officially joined the Surrealist group in 1929 his political activism initially intensified. In 1931, he became involved in the [[Workers and Peasants' Bloc|Workers' and Peasants' Front]], delivering lectures at meetings and contributing to their party journal.<ref>Gibson, Ian (1997) pp. 287–89</ref> However, as political divisions within the Surrealist group grew, Dalí soon developed a more apolitical stance, refusing to publicly denounce fascism. In 1934, [[André Breton]] accused him of being sympathetic to Hitler and Dalí narrowly avoided being expelled from the group.<ref>Gibson, Ian (1997) pp. 320–25</ref> In 1935 Dalí wrote a letter to Breton suggesting that non-white races should be enslaved.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/09/01/salvador-dali-wanted-enslave-non-white-races-create-new-sadistic/|title=Salvador Dali wanted to enslave non-white races and create new 'sadistic' religion, letter reveals|first=James|last=Badcock|newspaper=The Telegraph |date=1 September 2022|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}</ref>  After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Dalí avoided taking a public stand for or against the Republic.<ref name=":4" /> However, immediately after Franco's victory in 1939, Dalí praised Catholicism and the Falange and was expelled from the Surrealist group.<ref name=":5" />

After Dalí's return to his native Catalonia in 1948, he publicly supported Franco's regime and announced his return to the Catholic faith.<ref>Gibson, Ian (1997), pp. 448, 465–66</ref> Dalí was granted an audience with Pope Pius XII in 1949 and with [[Pope John XXIII]] in 1959. He had official meetings with General Franco in June 1956, October 1968, and May 1974.<ref>Gibson, Ian (1997) pp. 486, 543, 553</ref> In 1968, Dalí stated that on Franco's death there should be no return to democracy and Spain should become an absolute monarchy.<ref>Gibson, Ian (1997) pp. 525–27</ref> In September 1975, Dalí publicly supported Franco's decision to execute three alleged Basque terrorists and repeated his support for an absolute monarchy, adding: "Personally, I'm against freedom; I'm for the Holy Inquisition."  In the following days, he fled to New York after his home in Port Lligat was stoned and he had received numerous death threats.<ref>Gibson, Ian (1997) pp. 560–62</ref> When King Juan Carlos visited the ailing Dalí in August 1981, Dalí told him: "I have always been an anarchist and a monarchist."<ref>Gibson, Ian (1997) p. 587</ref>

Dalí espoused a mystical view of Catholicism and in his later years he claimed to be a Catholic and an agnostic.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Descharnes, Gilles Néret|url=https://archive.org/details/salvadordali190400robe/page/166|title=Salvador Dalí, 1904–1989|publisher=Benedikt Taschen|year=1994|isbn=978-3-8228-0298-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/salvadordali190400robe/page/166 166]|quote=Dalí, dualist as ever in his approach, was now claiming to be both an agnostic and a Roman Catholic.}}</ref> He was interested in the writings of the Jesuit priest and philosopher [[Pierre Teilhard de Chardin|Teilhard de Chardin]]<ref>{{Cite book|last=McNeese|first=Tim|title=Salvador Dalí|publisher=Chelsea House|year=2006|isbn=978-0-7910-8837-1|page=102}}</ref> and his [[Omega Point]] theory. Dalí's painting ''[[Tuna Fishing (painting)|Tuna Fishing (Homage to Meissonier)]]'' (1967) was inspired by his reading of Chardin.<ref>Gibson, Ian (1997) p. 525</ref>