Salvador DALI

Salvador DALI (1904 - 1989)

Salvador Dalí was born on 11 May 1904 in Figueras, in the Empordà region of Spain.

A Spanish painter, Salvador Dalí is one of the best known artists of the 20th century. 
A master of surrealism, his works are world-famous, such as the painting "The Persistence of Memory" which he produced in 1931.
As well known for his work as for his eccentricities, Salvador Dali touched on many fields such as painting, sculpture, jewellery, architecture, literature or even cinema and theatre.

From 1921 to 1925, Dali studied at the San Fernando Academy in Madrid, where he became friends with the poet Federico García Lorca and the filmmaker Luis Buñuel. 
His first solo exhibition was held in 1925 (Galerie Dalmau, Barcelona), at which Picasso and Miro began to show an interest in his work. 

Dali was first influenced by futurism, then by cubism, we are in 1925

In April 1926, Dali made his first trip to Paris, where he visited Picasso. 

In 1927 Dalí was expelled from the Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid.

During a second trip to Paris in 1929, on the occasion of the shooting of the short film he had co-directed with Luis Buñuel, "Un chien andalou", thanks to his Catalan friend Joan Miró, he met and joined the circle of artists of the Surrealist movement. There he met André Breton, René Magritte, Paul Éluard and other great names in painting. 

During the summer, which Dalí spent with his new friends, he fell madly in love with Paul Éluard's wife, Gala. The feelings were mutual, and the lovebirds were to spend their lives together from then on. 

Dali found his own style from 1929, the year in which he became a full-fledged surrealist and invented the paranoid-critical method. 

Excluded from this group a few years later, he lived through the Spanish Civil War in exile in Europe, before leaving France in war for New York, where he lived for eight years and made his fortune. 

On his return to Catalonia in 1949, he turned to Catholicism, drew closer to Renaissance painting and was inspired by the scientific developments of his time to develop his style towards what he called "corpuscular mysticism". 

Dali's most frequent themes were dreams, sexuality, food, his wife Gala and religion.
A highly imaginative artist, he showed a notable tendency towards narcissism and megalomania, which enabled him to attract public attention, but irritated some in the art world, who saw this behaviour as a form of publicity that sometimes went beyond his work. 

Immensely rich in the 1960s, Dalí was decorated by the Spanish State. 
In the same period, he met Amanda Lear. She became the painter's muse, serving as his model and living with the Dalí-Gala couple. 

The idea of building a theatre-museum in his native town of Figueras was born in Salvador Dalí's mind. 

In 1969 he bought Púbol Castle for Gala.

On 28 September 1974, the Dalí Theatre-Museum was inaugurated. 
A true work of surrealist art, paying tribute to Dalí's career, the painter continued to work on his theatre for many years. 

Dalí, suffering from Alzheimer's disease from 1980 onwards, became a widower in 1982, following the death of his wife Gala. He then moved to the castle of Púbol. 

The King of Spain, Juan Carlos, appointed Dalí Marquis of Púbol. 
However, the painter was forced to return to live in his Theatre-Museum after the castle burned down in 1984. 

The brilliant and eccentric Salvador Dalí died on 23 January 1989 in Figueras at the age of 84.