Salvador Dali Artist Biography

Salvador Dali Artist Biography - Born in Barcelona in 1904, Salvador Dali was the son of a middle class lawyer and notary. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his parents were slightly eccentric, and they raised Salvador to believe that he was the reincarnation of their elder son (of the same name) who had died of menigitus shortly before Dali's birth.

It was during his childhood that Dali discovered his incredible talent for drawing and painting, and had his first exhibition at the age of twelve.

Dali attended the Academy of Arts in Madrid, and experimented with Cubism and Dada, before being expelled shortly before his final exams, as he claimed that there was no one at the Academy qualified enough to mark his art. He moved to Paris, where he worked with Surrealist film director Bunuel on 'Un Chien Andalou', and also met his lifetime muse and future wife, Gala. He went on to become one of the leading members of the Surrealist movement.

Salvador Dali's interest in dreams and modern science, in particular Einstein's theory of relativity which shook accepted notions of space and time can be seen in paintings such as 'Persistence of Memory' featuring his famous melting clocks. It is said that the melting clocks were inspired by an encounter with an over-ripe Camembert cheese. Absurdity and the unconscious mind were also themes that recur in his paintings, including Metamorphosis of Narcissus, 1937 poster Sting Caused by the Flight of a Bee... and Swans Reflecting Elephants, 1937. He died on Jan 23rd, 1989.

artist index
adams - blakeway - cangialosi - casaro - chagall - dali - dalton brown - dancey-wood - de brunhoff - de lempicka - disney - duplock - haring - hiroshige - hopper - kandinsky - klee - klimt - lichtenstein - lourenco - lowry - matisse - meyers - miro - modigliani - monet - mucha - munch - o'keeffe - ona - picasso - pollock - renoir - rothko - rousseau - stewart - turner - van gogh - vettriano - warhol
subject index
abstract - african art - american art prints - animals - art deco prints - bestsellers - big art - british art prints - celebrities - children's art - cityscapes - cubism - dance prints - disney prints - expressionism - fashion - figurative - floral prints - food and drink - impressionism - landscapes - limited edition art - london prints - music - new york prints - nudes - old masters - oriental - panoramics - paris prints - photography - pop art - pre-raphaelites - seascapes - ships - silkscreens - sport - still life - surrealism - tropical - vintage posters - x-ray photography