Salvador Dalí Spanish, 1904-1989

The iconic artist Salvador Dalí was born in Catalonia, in 1904. Artistically gifted as a child, he attended drawing school and continued his studies at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernandoin, Madrid. After being expelled for causing trouble in 1926, he visited Paris where he met Picasso, Magritte and Miró, encountering the Surrealist movement for the first time.

In the late 1920s, Dalí worked in his own ‘Paranoiac-Critical’ method and became a member of the Surrealists. He also met Gala, the striking woman who would later become his wife and main muse. His overtly eccentric appearance and behaviour eventually provoked André Breton to oust him from the Surrealist circle, but he continued to work in the style. Between 1940-55 Dalí lived in America, establishing himself as a celebrity by making regular appearances on television and courting publicity. An incredibly versatile and imaginative artist, he worked in a proliferation of different media, including painting, drawing, film, sculpture, objects, furniture, and set design. He designed the Dalí Theatre and Museum in 1960, which was completed in 1974 in his home town.

He died in Figueres, in 1989.