1944: Hollywood movie studio mogul Jack Warner hosted a dinner party. Attendees included the acclaimed film animator Walt Disney and the surrealist painter Salvador Dali. The Spanish artist had been living at Warner’s home at the time while working with Alfred Hitchcock on the film Spellbound.
Disney and Dali had corresponded by mail the year before after Walt had enjoyed reading the artist’s autobiography The Secret Life of Salvador Dali. Disney sent his copy of the book to Dali for his autograph. They admired one another’s work and hoped to meet one day. Jack Warner arranged it.
The two artists had little in common by all public appearances but would remain friends for the rest of their lives.
1904: Dali was born in Catalonia, Spain near the border with France. His father was a small town lawyer. In his early teens, he developed a talent for drawing and painting, and he studied the craft. Dali had his first art exhibition in his hometown at age 15.
At age 16, his mother’s death from cancer left Dali bereft. His father then married Dali’s aunt (his mother’s sister). Young Salvador went to Madrid to further study art and already began developing his eccentric personal style. At age 22, he traveled to Paris where he met his idol Pablo Picasso. Shortly thereafter, Dali delved into his now-famous surrealist style of painting.
1901: Walt Disney was born in Chicago, but by age 4 his family moved to rural Missouri. As a boy, he developed a talent for drawing and painting, just like Dali. At age 10, the Disney clan moved to Kansas City, MO, and young Walt took classes at the local art institute. At 18, he worked as an artist for an advertising firm. When he turned 21, Walt moved to Los Angeles. Three years later, he and his brother Roy formed the Disney Brothers Studio. The name was later changed to the Walt Disney Company. His cartoon empire was underway.
The careers of both Dali and Disney blossomed in the 1930s, and they enjoyed one another’s work from afar. Dali was impressed with Disney’s animated films, especially the Silly Symphonies, and called him “the Great American Surrealist.”
1944: During their first encounter at Jack Warner’s house, Walt Disney and Salvador Dali initiated a longtime collaboration on an animated art film - although neither of them would live long enough to see the finished product.
Fantasia was released to strong reviews in 1940 and showed that Disney’s films weren’t limited to commercial appeal. He wanted to follow that up with something equally artistic.
Walt found a Mexican folk song, Destino, around which he thought an animated film could be developed. Dali teamed up with Disney animator John Hench to flesh out the project. Dali created numerous storyboards for the project.
However, the Second World War affected the Disney company’s finances. Cutbacks had to be made. Destino was put on a back burner, as they say in Hollywood, and the project eventually ceased production.
Disney and Dali remained pals, however. They visited each other’s homes from time to time in Spain and California. Disney owned some of Dali’s original art.
December 1966: Walt Disney died at age 65 at the pinnacle of his career. The lifelong three-pack-a-day smoker succumbed to cancer. His brother Roy took over the company.
Salvador Dali lived on to old age until he died in 1989 at age 84.
1999: Disney executive Roy E. Disney (Roy’s son) revived Destino from the company archives, and new animators went to work on the project. John Hench, then age 90, was brought on board to complete the work based on Dali’s renderings.
The completed short film can be viewed here.
It was released in 2003 and received an Academy Award nomination.
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