Salvador Dalí Reveals the Secrets of His Trademark Moustache (1954)

In a 2010 poll, Salvador Dalí’s facial hair was voted the most famous moustache of all time. The flamboyant moustache was part of his schtick, there’s no denying that. But some have assigned a deeper meaning to it. The Wikepedia entry for Dalí attributed the facial hair to 17th-century Spanish master painter Diego Velázquez (see image). And yet perhaps the influence was more literary than painterly. Appearing on the game show The Name’s the Same in January, 1954, Dalí was asked (at the 4:00 mark) whether the stache was a joke. To which the Spanish painter responded, “It’s the most serious part of my personality. It’s a very simple Hungarian moustache. Mr. Marcel Proust used the same kind of pomade for this moustache.” And there you have it, the artistic influence of the world’s most famous facial hair.

Related Content:

Salvador Dalí’s 100 Illustrations of Dante’s The Divine Comedy

Salvador Dali Gets Surreal with Mike Wallace (1958)

Q: Salvador Dalí, Are You a Crackpot? A: No, I’m Just Almost Crazy (1969)

A Tour Inside Salvador Dalí’s Labyrinthine Spanish Home


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  • My class I’ve done three homework and I can’t believe this moustache is a joke and also were learning about dalí for our topic me I’m YR5

  • C Darryl Mattison says:

    According to an exhibit at the Dali Museum in St Petersburg FL (put it on your bucket list), when Dali was asked why he wore such a flamboyant mustache, his answer was “In order to pass unnoticed. While everyone is focused on the mustache, I am doing what I want behind it.”

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