Salvador Dali
Salvador Dalí studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid, where he developed his technical skills and eccentric persona. In the 1920s, he moved to Paris and joined the surrealist movement, quickly becoming one of its most recognizable figures. Dalí's flamboyant personality and prolific imagination made him a cultural icon as well as a leading voice in 20th-century art.
Dalí is best known for his surrealist paintings that merge dream imagery, precise realism, and symbolic content. Influenced by Sigmund Freud’s theories of the unconscious and psychoanalysis, his works often feature melting clocks, distorted figures, barren landscapes, and bizarre juxtapositions. Dalí called his approach the “paranoiac-critical method,” which involved accessing subconscious associations to fuel artistic creation. While painting was his primary medium, he also worked in sculpture, film, photography, and design, collaborating with figures such as Luis Buñuel and Alfred Hitchcock.
Among his most iconic works are The Persistence of Memory (1931), The Elephants (1948), The Temptation of St. Anthony (1946), and Metamorphosis of Narcissus (1937). Dalí’s work has been exhibited in major museums worldwide, including MoMA (New York), the Tate (London), and the Centre Pompidou (Paris). The Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, founded by the artist himself, houses a vast collection of his works and remains a central destination for those seeking to understand his legacy.
Artworks
