Salvador Dalí

Salvador Dalí

Spain - 1904 - 1989

Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) was a Spanish painter renowned for his surreal and disjointed compositions. Born in Figueres, Catalonia, on May 11, 1904, he began his artistic education at the Municipal School of Drawing in his hometown. In 1919, he held his first public exhibition at the Municipal Theatre of Figueres. In 1922, he moved to Madrid and enrolled in the Academy of Arts of San Fernando, where he already showcased his eccentric personality with a distinctive and provocative appearance.

Expelled from the Academy of Arts in 1926 for declaring that no one there was capable of evaluating him, Dalí moved to Paris in 1929 and became an official member of the Surrealist group. This group, which emerged in 1924, reacted against the rationalism and materialism of Western society, seeking in the subconscious a source of fantastic and dreamlike images.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Dalí produced some of his most iconic works, using what he called the "Paranoiac-Critical Method" to attempt to represent the flow of the unconscious and dreams. Among his best-known works from this period is “Surrealist Composition with Invisible Figures” (1936), which exemplifies his disjointed and surreal style.

In 1939, he was expelled from the Surrealist group by writer André Breton, who created an anagram with Dalí's name to criticize his appetite for money: "Avida Dollars." With the onset of World War II, Dalí moved to the United States, where he lived for eight years. During this period, he focused on painting portraits of famous and wealthy individuals, gaining attention in social columns. He also created set designs for theater and cinema, engravings, illustrations, murals, jewelry, and sculptures.

Salvador Dalí passed away in Figueres, Spain, on January 23, 1989.

Sources:
Photo: http://m80.iol.pt/noticias/body.aspx?id=70670

Artist Works

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