Salvador Dali was born on May 11, 1904. He was a leader in the new movement of art in the early 20th century called Surrealism.
In 1921, Dali studied at the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid. Here, he was able to associate with and learn from Spanish modernists such as Federico Garcia Lorca and Luis Buñuel. He was also influenced by Italian futurists and the metaphysical paintings of Giorgio de Chirico. In his early works, however, Dali credited his own Catalan sense of fantasy and megalomania as his true motivating forces.
Dali left the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in 1926 and moved to Paris, where he frequented the Cafe Cyrano, the headquarters of the Parisian surrealists. In 1929, Cafe Cyrano featured an exhibit of Dali’s own surrealist paintings. Dali was also fascinated with the writings of psychologist Sigmund Freud. He was so moved by Freud’s theory that he subsequently vowed to make systemizing confusion” his life’s ambition.
Dali is best known for his surrealist works. Surrealism is an art style in which imagery is based on fantasy and the world of dreams. It is thought to have grown out of the French literary movement in the 1920s and has its roots in Dadaism. These painters developed a dreamlike or hallucinatory imagery that was all the more startling for its highly realistic rendering. Some of Dali’s better-known paintings are Persistence Of Memory,” also known popularly as “Soft Watches” (1931), and “The Sacrament Of The Last Supper” (1955). These paintings have become part of the definitive record of 20th-century art.
Dali used many mediums to illustrate his inspirations. His most popular, of course, are his paintings, but he also used media such as jewelry, advertisements, beer bottle designs, ballet sets, and costumes. Dali also experimented with his talents in film. In 1928, he and childhood mentor Luis Bundel produced the famous surrealist film Un Chien Andalou” (An Andalusian Dog). They teamed up once again in 1931 for “L’Age d’or” (The Age Of Gold). Dali was easily recognized all over the world.
He was known for eccentric yet stylish apparel, always accompanied by a flowing cape and a handlebar mustache. Salvador Dali led a long life in which he influenced people everywhere he went. In 1989, Dali died at age 86, a tremendous loss for the art community.
