About Salvador Dali

Salvador Domenec Felip Jacint Dali Domenech; better known (and easier to say) as Salvador Dali, was born in Catalonia (Spain) on May 11, 1904.

The son of a notary, Salvador Dali enjoyed drawing from early childhood and these artistic talents would eventually lead to Salvador Dali’s status as a historical surrealist artist.

Salvador Dali’s mother died when he was only 16, and his father remarried his mother’s sister. Two years later, Salvador Dali moved to attend the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid and study painting.

Here, Salvador Dali experimented with various combinations of Cubism, Metaphysical, Futurism, and Dadaism. His experimentations, along with eccentric taste in hairstyles and clothes, placed Salvador Dali as an outcast among peers.

Salvador Dali considered those who judged his work were not competent enough to grade him. Salvador Dali received early and international recognition of his talent in 1928 when the 3^rd annual Carnegie International Exhibition featured 3 of Salvador Dali’s surrealist paintings, including The Basket of Bread.

It was after moving to Paris that Salvador Dali met Pablo Picasso and became involved in the Surrealist art movement. Around this time is when Salvador Dali created surrealist masterpieces (paintings that would someday represent what surrealism is) such as the infamous The Persistence of Memory, showing a number of melting clocks.

Another surrealist art masterpiece created during the time Salvador Dali spent in Paris (and participated actively in the surrealism movement) is The Great Masturbator.

In 1929, Salvador Dali met Helena Diakonova, known as “Gala”, a Russian immigrant who was over 10 years his senior. Gala became Salvador Dali’s business manager, supporter, muse, and lover. They married in 1934, and she remained an important part of Salvador Dali’s life until her death in 1982.

An eccentric behavior and political disagreement with fellow member (Andre Breton) of the surrealist movement led to Salvador Dali being banned from the Surrealist movement.

From there, Salvador Dali moved to the United States where he became a huge success with his eccentric appearance and comments, and more importantly due to his surrealist paintings.

Salvador Dali and his wife lived in the United States for 8 years before returning to Catalonia. Gala died in 1982, and during this time Salvador Dali was already battling his own health problems related to palsy.

After returning to his hometown of Figueres, Salvador Dali passed away from heart complications in 1989.

A wealthy surrealist artist during his lifetime, Salvador Dali paved the way for further artists like Andy Warhol. While living, Salvador Dali had two museums dedicated to him.

Today, Salvador Dali surrealist paintings are highly sought after as they are an important symbol of the surrealism art trend of the twentieth century.

In life, Salvador Dali was a flamboyant and eccentric Spaniard artist who sculpted, wrote, experimented with film-making, and most importantly, painter of brilliant works of surrealist art.

Today the name Salvador Dali remains a historical entity in the world of surrealist paintings.