Biography
Salvador Dalí is a famous surrealist artist. He is known not only for his remarkable artwork, but also for his eccentric lifestyle and personality.
Dalí was born in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain in 1904, shortly after the death of his older brother, also named Salvador. When he was five years old, Dalí's parents told him that he was the reincarnation of his dead brother. This stayed with Dalí and influenced some of his works, most famously in Portrait of My Dead Brother.
Dalí attended art school in Spain, where his art flourished, despite his lack of academic discipline. In 1919, Dalí had his first public exhibition in his home town. Subsequently, he began to experiment with cubism and Dadaism. In 1926, Dalí was introduced to surrealism, and he began to weave modern and avant-garde styles into his works, creating a style of his own. During this time, Dalí established himself as an up-and-coming artist with exhibitions in Barcelona.
In 1929, Dalí took up the company of the surrealists, who enjoyed his work. Dalí met his wife and muse, Gala, a Russian immigrant who was much older than Dalí and married to another man at the time of their introduction. Despite pushbacks from friends, family, and the Church, Dalí and Gala married, and she became his business manager. Dalí was becoming a very popular figure, and his 1931 painting The Persistence of Memory, perhaps his most famous painting, solidified his place in the public eye.
Dalí is known not only for his surrealist artwork, but his surrealist costumes and performances. He once attended an event wearing a glass-encased bra on his chest. He gave a lecture wearing a deep-sea diving suit and helmet (which had to be removed for him to speak) with two Russian wolfhounds in tow and a pool cue in hand. Dalí also had a menagerie of exotic pets, which he made some public appearances with, including an ocelot and an anteater. Dalí's persistently bizarre behavior combined with his brilliant work landed him the cover of Time magazine in 1936.
Dalí incorporated many themes and concepts in his art, including the natural sciences, geometry, religion, nuclear physics, pointillism, unique perscpectives, and atomic weapons. Dalí was more than a painter; he created many other works, including jewelry, sculptures, performance art, books, clothes, stage sets, short films, store display windows, and furniture. One of these is Destino, a short film created in collaboration with Walt Disney which was not finished until after Dalí's death.
Salvador Dalí died of heart failure in 1988 at the age of 84 in his home town of Figueres.
Dalí's public works can be seen in the following places, among others:
- Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States
- Teatro Museo Dalí in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain
- Caesarea Ralli Museum in Caesarea, Israel
- Museum-Gallery Xpo: Salvador Dalí in Bruges, Belgium
- L'Espace Dalí in Paris, France
- Dalí Museum-House in Portlligat, Cadaques, Spain
