Do you think Salvador Dali was a great artist or just a showman with some painting ability?

Answer 1

Depends on who you ask. Dali is considered by some to be a great Surrealist, yet those in the post-war Modern Art world viewed him as kitsch. Clement Greenberg believed Dali's Surrealism missed the mark, but believed the Surrealism of Miro to be successful. Greenberg held this view because he saw art as historicist - a chain of events which eventually leads to the truth of painting (which for Modernism is the medium.) Dali did not fit those requirements. His "dream-scapes" were skillful, yet not Modern. Today, there may be those who praise his art ability (and they may be right) but he did not do much for the history of art.