Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali’ was born on May 11, 1904 in the town of Figeuras. His father was a respected notary. His whole family, father, mother, and younger sister, encouraged his interest in art. His first art studio was a room in his family’s home.

In 1921 Dali’ enrolled at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid. While in that school he joined a high-class group of friends. Among those friends was film-maker Luis Bunuel and poet-dramatist Frederico Garcia Lorca. Dali’ excelled in academics. But his eccentric behavior and dress and the way he was so outspoken in his political conservitism got him expelled from the school.

After that Dali’ begun the shape his philosophy in art. One force that affected this was Sigmund Freud’s theory of the unconscious. Dali’ learned this theory from Sigmund Freud’s book, ‘The Interpretation of Dreams.’ Another force that affected the way Dali’ shaped his philosophy in art was his association with the French surrealists. The French surrealists were a group of artists and writers led by the French poet Andre Breton.

In 1928 Dali’ was first introduced to the leading surrealists during a visit to Spain. The following year he settled there, becoming in a short time one of the best known members of the group. During the 1930’s his paintings were included in surrealist shows in most major European cities and the United States.

Under the influence of the surrealist movement, Dali’s artistic style turned into the disturbing blend of precise realism and dreamlike fantasy that became his trademark.

These pictures described by Dali’ as “hand-painted dream photographs” are inspired by dreams, hallucinations, and other unconscious forces that the artist is unable to explain.