Salvador Dalí

1904–1989 / Figueres, Spain
Classical Surrealism Oil paintingSculptureFilmJewelryTheater design
Salvador Dalí artwork

About

Salvador Dalí, born Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dalí y Domenech on May 11, 1904, in Figueres, Spain, was a prominent Spanish Surrealist artist known for his eccentric personality and dreamlike paintings. Encouraged in art from childhood, he studied at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid but was expelled twice—once in 1923 for criticizing teachers and inciting a riot, and again in 1926 for declaring faculty incompetent to examine him. In the late 1920s, Dalí moved to Paris, where he associated with Pablo Picasso, René Magritte, Joan Miró, and joined the Surrealist group in 1929, becoming one of its leading figures with works exploring the subconscious influenced by Sigmund Freud.

Surrealism, later classical and nuclear mysticism

Selected Exhibitions

  • Julien Levy Gallery, New York (1941)
  • MoMA retrospective, New York (1940s)

Works