While he never earned his own show (like Da Vinci), or even appeared in an episode of Doctor Who (like Van Gogh), Salvador Dali is undoubtedly one of the greatest artists in history—and he has plenty of geeky fans. Here are 11 great mash ups of the surrealist’s artwork paired with famous geek icons.
1. Soft Gremlins Fed After Midnight
Perhaps no other artist has made as many geek mash ups of Dali paintings as Mike Capp. He’s combined Pac-Man with The Persistence of Memory, blended Mario together with Soft Self-Portrait With Fried Bacon, and merged Batman’s face together with Sleep. I think Dali would be most impressed with Capp’s Gremlin tribute to Soft Construction With Boiled Beans, which is so weird in so many ways.
2. The Face of Logan
Back in April of 2009, Marvel decided to hold Wolverine Art Appreciation Month, and celebrated by releasing variant covers of many of their comics with Wolverine artworks inspired by famous artists. Their take on Dali was done by Paola Rivera and featured on the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #592.
3. Crucifixion of Weapon X
Paola Rivera’s variant Spider-Man cover isn’t the only Wolverine/Dali mash up around. In fact, Rob Pitts does an excellent job using imagery from Dali’s Crucifixion to show how much Logan is tied to the X-Men and how much he sacrifices for the group.
4. Les Elephant-ATs
How would Dali draw the famous AT-ATs and AT-STs from Star Wars? Most likely the same way he drew his elephants, with long, spindley legs that could never support that much weight. This tattoo, by Heinz Graynd, takes that basic concept and adds in other iconic Star Wars imagery like a melting Death Star and Jabba the Hutt.
5. The Temptation of Luke Skywalker
There’s just something about Dali and Star Wars that works together. Case in point: The Temptation of St. Anthony, by an unknown artist, that features lightsabers, Imperial Walkers, and Leia in her slave outfit.
6. Doctor Dali
FredrickJay designed this creation for TeeFury last year. You can no longer purchase the great tee, but we can still admire it for its great blend of Doctor Who and Dali. It seems totally fitting to Doctor Who to have unreadable clocks draped over everything.
7. Un Lapin Andalou
The melting clock imagery also works for the White Rabbit of Alice in Wonderland, who is constantly fretting about being late. DeviantArt user Charlie MegaLoMad really captures the feeling of time slipping through our hands in this clever mash up.
8. Hello Salvador
What do you get when you combine one of the greatest artists of all time with one of the most commercially successful icons of the last century? You get this wonderful Hello Kitty/Salvador Dali mash up tattooed by artist Danielle McKnight. I particularly like the flowers on the kitty mustaches—like Dali wore in his most famous portrait—and the melting bow tie on the kitty’s head.
9. Indiana Jones and the Land of Dali
London-based artist Aled Lewis created a series of famous paintings mixed together with '80s adventure video games for an art show at LA’s iam8bit gallery. His Dali-inspired piece was mixed together with the 1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure PC game.
10. The Persistence of Portal
Drew Northcott created this great mash up between Dali’s The Persistence of Memory and the game Portal and was soon approached by someone in Valve’s marketing department for a higher resolution version so it could be hung up in the company’s office. Now that’s something that would make any fan proud.
11. Ponies Reflecting Horses
For whatever reason, the most popular subject for Dali mash ups tends to be My Little Ponies. It was hard to choose just one great pony creation for this article, but this one, by DeviantArt user Love My Twins, manages to stand out above the rest because it incorporates a rather Dali-esque horse standing directly over a My Little Pony figure with one of Dali’s horse paintings standing in for its cutie mark.