Salvador Dali

Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech

Salvador Dali was a world famous Spanish painter. According to critics, his works of art take a viewer to the inner of his subconscious part of the mind. As a matter of fact, he is one of the greatest pioneers of the surrealist style of painting. He influenced many prominent artists and sculptors to move out from the traditional and repetitive styles of creation. Nowadays many scholars of art around the world say that he was one of the major figures of aesthetics of the 20th century.

Dali born on 11 May in 1904 in Figueres, Spain. His father Salvador Dali i Cusi was a lawyer and mother Felipa Domenech Ferres was a housewife. From his childhood days, he was very arrogant and intelligent. His relationship with his father was not very good, while his mother always used to praise him. When he somehow came to know that his family believed him as the reincarnation of his dead elder brother, his artistic scene turned towards a transcendental way. That incident helped him to become a surrealist artist.

As a matter of fact, his parents used to praise his talent. They made him a studio and admitted him into a drawing school in 1916. He was very irregular in school. His father once arranged an exhibition for him in 1919. In 1922 he admitted into a famous art institute in Madrid. There he started to learn cubism and dadaism.

The academy suspended him in 1923 for his association with anti-establishment activities, though he was not associated with politics that much. Although he returned to his academy in 1926, it suspended him permanently for his cynic outlook about his teachers. After that incident, Dali traveled to Paris and met Pablo Picasso. He left classical style and inspired by Picasso. His works began to become popular.

Dali painted his famous ‘The Persistence of Memory’ in 1931 which became his landmark. His surrealistic style came into a more outstanding point. Though he supported Franco as a ruler of Spain, he stayed in the USA during the 2nd world war.

After ending the war, Dali returned to Spain and began to experiment more inventive works which influenced the later pop arts. He worked for the museum and Dali theater in Figueres in 1960’s. ‘The Elephants’, ‘Premonition of Civil War’, ‘Metamorphosis of Narcissus’, ‘Spider of the Evening’, ‘The Temptation of St. Anthony’ etc are his ageless works of art.

Salvador Dali died on 23 January in 1989. His grave is in his hometown Figueres.