1 of 15

Surrealism�

Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to leader André Breton, to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality", or surreality. It produced works of painting, writing, theatre, filmmaking, photography, and other media.
Works of Surrealism feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur. However, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost (for instance, of the "pure psychic automatism" Breton speaks of in the first Surrealist Manifesto), with the works themselves being secondary, i.e. artifacts of surrealist experimentation. Leader Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was, above all, a revolutionary movement. At the time, the movement was associated with political causes such as communism and anarchism. It was influenced by the Dada movement of the 1910s.

2 of 15

Salvador Dalí�

Salvador Dalí was born on 11 May 1904, at 8:45 am, on the first floor of Carrer Monturiol, 20 in the town of Figueres, in the Empordà region, close to the French border in Catalonia, Spain. Dalí's older brother, who had also been named Salvador (born 12 October 1901), had died of gastroenteritis nine months earlier, on 1 August 1903. His father, Salvador Luca Rafael Aniceto Dalí Cusí (1872–1950) was a middle-class lawyer and notary, an anti-clerical atheist and Catalan federalist, whose strict disciplinary approach was tempered by his wife, Felipa Domènech Ferrés (1874–1921), who encouraged her son's artistic endeavors. In the summer of 1912, the family moved to the top floor of Carrer Monturiol 24 (presently 10). Dalí later attributed his "love of everything that is gilded and excessive, my passion for luxury and my love of oriental clothes" to an "Arab lineage", claiming that his ancestors were descendants of the Moors.

3 of 15

Madrid, Barcelona and Paris�

In 1922, Dalí moved into the Residencia de Estudiantes (Students' Residence) in Madrid and studied at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts). A lean 1.72 metres (5 ft 7+³⁄₄ in) tall,^[29] Dalí already drew attention as an eccentric and dandy. He had long hair and sideburns, coat, stockings, and knee-breeches in the style of English aesthetes of the late 19th century.

At the Residencia, he became close friends with Pepín Bello, Luis Buñuel, Federico García Lorca, and others associated with the Madrid avant-garde group Ultra. The friendship with Lorca had a strong element of mutual passion, but Dalí said he rejected the poet's sexual advances. Dalí's friendship with Lorca was to remain one of his most emotionally intense relationships until the poet's death at the hands of Nationalist forces in 1936 at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.

4 of 15

1929 to World War II�

The Great Masturbator (1929). oil on canvas, 110 cm × 150 cm., Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War) 1936. oil on canvas, 100 x 99 cm., Philadelphia Museum of Art

5 of 15

Post War in United States (1946–48)�

Portrait of Dalí by Allan Warren, 1972

The Hallucinogenic Toreador (1968–1970), oil on canvas, 398.8 cm × 299.7 cm., Salvador Dalí Museum

6 of 15

Church of Sant Pere in Figueres, site of Dalí's baptism, first communion, and funeral

Dalí's crypt at the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres displays his name and title

7 of 15

Symbolism�

From the late 1920s, Dalí progressively introduced many bizarre or incongruous images into his work which invite symbolic interpretation. While some of these images suggest a straightforward sexual or Freudian interpretation (Dalí read Freud in the 1920s) others (such as locusts, rotting donkeys, and sea urchins) are idiosyncratic and have been variously interpreted. Some commentators have cautioned that Dalí's own comments on these images are not always reliable.

8 of 15

Sculptures and other objects�

Homage to Newton (1985), Bronze with dark patina. UOB Plaza, Singapore. Dalí's homage to Isaac Newton

A sundial painted by Dalí, 27 Rue Saint-Jacques, Paris

9 of 15

Fashion and photography�

Dalí Atomicus, photo by Philippe Halsman (1948)

Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres also holds the crypt where Dalí is buried

10 of 15

Politics and religion�

Dalí in the 1960s, sporting his characteristic flamboyant moustache, holding his pet ocelot, Babou

Gala in the Window (1933), Marbella

11 of 15

Children at Dalí exhibition in Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Istanbul

the persistence of memory (1931)

12 of 15

Paintings

Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee Around a Pomegranate

The Burning Giraffe (1937)

13 of 15

The Temptation of St. Anthony is a painting by Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dalí. Painted in 1946, ..

Galatea of the Spheres is a painting by Salvador Dalí made in 1952.