Salvador Dalí

Salvador Dalí was a Spanish surrealist artist who is known for the striking and the bizarre images of his paintings. He was one of the most celebrated and the most controversial artists of the twentieth century.

Early Life and Education

Dalí was born in Figueres in Catalonia in 1904. His father was a notary and his mother encouraged his artistic talent.

He studied at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. He was expelled for his unconventional behaviour and for his criticism of the faculty.

He experimented with the cubism and the classical painting. He was influenced by the writings of Sigmund Freud and by the theory of the unconscious.

The Surrealism

Dalí moved to Paris in 1929 and joined the surrealist group led by André Breton. He developed the technique that he called the paranoiac-critical method.

The method involved the systematic confusion of the reality and of the imagination. It was intended to access the images of the unconscious mind.

He painted The Persistence of Memory in 1931, with the famous melting clocks. The painting became one of the most recognisable images of the surrealist movement.

He was expelled from the surrealist group in 1934 for his political views and his commercialism. He continued to work in the surrealist idiom.

The Later Career

Dalí moved to the United States during the Second World War and lived there for eight years. He designed the dream sequence for the film Spellbound by Alfred Hitchcock.

He returned to Spain in 1948 and settled in Port Lligat. He painted the religious and the mythological subjects in a classical style.

He designed the theatre and the museum in his home town of Figueres. The Dalí Theatre-Museum opened in 1974 and contains many of his works.

He produced the jewellery, the furniture, and the illustrations. He collaborated with the designers and the film makers.

The Legacy

Dalí was a flamboyant and the eccentric public figure. He adopted the distinctive moustache and the theatrical behaviour that made him famous.

He was married to Gala, who was his muse and his business manager. The relationship was central to his life and to his art.

He died in 1989 in Figueres. He is buried in the crypt of the museum that he designed.

His works are among the most valuable of the surrealist movement. He is regarded as one of the greatest and the most original artists of the century.

The Early Career

Dalí studied at the academy of fine arts in Madrid. He was expelled for his unconventional behaviour.

He experimented with the cubism and the classical painting. He was influenced by the writings of Freud and by the theory of the unconscious.

He moved to Paris in 1929 and joined the surrealist group. He developed the paranoiac-critical method for the access to the unconscious.

The Public Figure

Dalí was a flamboyant and the eccentric public figure. He adopted the distinctive moustache and the theatrical behaviour.

He appeared in the advertisements and the television programmes. He collaborated with the designers and the film makers.

He was married to Gala, who was his muse and his business manager. The relationship was central to his life and to his art.

The Education and the Family

Dalí studied at the academy of fine arts in Madrid. He was expelled for his unconventional behaviour.

He was born in Figueres in Catalonia to a notary and his wife. He had an older brother who died before his birth and whose name he was given.

He married Gala, who was his muse and his business manager. The relationship was central to his life and to his art.

The Products and the Innovation

Dalí developed the paranoiac-critical method for the access to the unconscious. The method involved the systematic confusion of the reality and the imagination.

He painted The Persistence of Memory in 1931, with the famous melting clocks. The painting became one of the most recognisable images of the surrealist movement.

He designed the dream sequence for the film Spellbound by Alfred Hitchcock. He produced the jewellery, the furniture, and the illustrations.

The Leadership and the Strategy

Dalí joined the surrealist group led by André Breton in 1929. He was expelled in 1934 for his political views and his commercialism.

He moved to the United States during the Second World War. He returned to Spain in 1948 and settled in Port Lligat.

He designed the theatre and the museum in his home town of Figueres. The Dali Theatre-Museum opened in 1974 and contains many of his works.

He died in 1989 in Figueres and is buried in the crypt of the museum that he designed. His works are among the most valuable and the most widely reproduced of the surrealist movement.

See also

• Surrealism
• Paranoiac-critical method
• The Persistence of Memory
• Modern art