Salvador Dali

Considered not only to be one of Spain’s greatest artists but also one of the most influential artists of all time, the work of Salvador Dali has a mystique and eccentricity often imitated but never bettered.

Born on May 11 1904, in the town of Figueres in Girona, Dali’s parents named him after an older brother who had died nine months before his birth. From an early age, he was led to understand that he was a reincarnation of his brother, who had also been christened Salvador.

Salvador’s talent for creating beautiful, imaginative and sometimes disturbing works of art was nourished from the age of ten, when he started his first drawing classes. Later he attended the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid, where he studied with poet, Federico Garcia Lorca and film-maker, Luis Buñuel.

Dali was famed for his subversive behaviour and attempts to shock his audience. His behaviour led to him being suspended from the Academy in 1923, however he was unperturbed and went on to produce his first one-man exhibition in Barcelona in 1925. Over subsequent years, Dali went on to study an array of art styles and forms, including time spent with Pablo Picasso in Paris. He eventually joined the Surrealist movement in 1929, although creative and political differences lead to him being ejected from the group in 1934. Dali’s dream-like, symbolic imagery set him apart from other artists, while his distinctive moustache, wacky dress sense and exaggerated facial expressions ensured that everyone knew who he was.

Through his lifetime, Dali produced more than 1,500 individual pieces of work. Alongside his paintings, the skilled artist also made sculptures and short films, such as the notorious Un Chien Andalou, wrote books and screenplays and even designed the Chupa Chups candy logo.

References to Dali’s work, in particular, The Persistence of Memory, often appear in popular culture – including episodes of The Simpsons and Doctor Who. Seeing Dali’s work in person, rather than on a printed page or computer screen is rather special, and it is highly recommended that while in Spain, you make time for a visit to the Dali Theatre-Museum in his home town of Figueres.

The last years of Dali’s life were plagued with ill health and, in 1989, he died of heart failure in his home town of Figueres. This legend of the art-world will always be fondly remembered, not least as a flamboyant personality, but also as the Father of Surrealism, while his legacy of instantly identifiable works will continue to puzzle and inspire for many years to come.