Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) was a Spanish painter and showman best known for his Surrealist imagery and meticulous technique. Born in Figueres, Catalonia, he studied in Madrid but clashed with his teachers and was eventually expelled. In the late 1920s he fell in with the Surrealists in Paris, developing his “paranoiac-critical method”, a way of tapping into dream logic and free association.
Dalí’s most famous work, The Persistence of Memory (1931), with its melting clocks, made him a household name. He also created playful objects such as Lobster Telephone and collaborated on films with Luis Buñuel, and later designed the dream sequence for Hitchcock’s Spellbound. During the Second World War he lived in the United States, returning later to Spain and settling in Port Lligat.
Gala, his wife and muse, was central to his life and career, often guiding his business affairs. Dalí cultivated a public persona, complete with a dramatic moustache, which helped him reach audiences beyond the art world. In his later years he explored religious and scientific themes with the same polished, classical finish. He founded the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, which opened in 1974 and remains the best place to see his work. He died in 1989, leaving a lasting mark on modern art and popular culture.