Salvador Dalí
(1904 - 1989)
Salvador Dalí
biography
Salvador Dalí is one of the most recognisable figures of twentieth-century art. Born in Figueres, Catalonia, in 1904, he trained at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid. Early work reflects Cubist, Metaphysical and Futurist influences, and can be considered an experimental phase that prefigures the clarity of his later Surrealism. His first solo exhibition took place in Barcelona in 1925, followed by participation in the Sociedad de Artistas Ibéricos and a period of intensive study of Old Master technique, which would become foundational to his mature practice.
Dalí joined the Paris Surrealists in 1929. The following decade remains the most critically prized and institutionally weighted segment of his oeuvre. Works of 1929–1939, including The Persistence of Memory (1931), define the core of Dalí’s market, prized for psychological density, optical precision, and intellectual volatility. His collaborations with film-maker Luis Buñuel (Un Chien Andalou, L’Âge d’Or) and designs for theatre and fashion extended Surrealism into cinema, performance and commerce, reinforcing his presence across multiple cultural registers.
In 1940 Dalí moved to the United States, where his output broadened to encompass religious imagery, nuclear mysticism, and large-scale set design. The 1940s–50s works maintain strong institutional presence. His return to Spain in 1948 coincided with increasing interest in holography, optical illusion and scientific themes.
Dalí died in Figueres in 1989. His work is represented in The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Tate, London; Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid; and the Dalí Theatre-Museum, Figueres.
Dalí joined the Paris Surrealists in 1929. The following decade remains the most critically prized and institutionally weighted segment of his oeuvre. Works of 1929–1939, including The Persistence of Memory (1931), define the core of Dalí’s market, prized for psychological density, optical precision, and intellectual volatility. His collaborations with film-maker Luis Buñuel (Un Chien Andalou, L’Âge d’Or) and designs for theatre and fashion extended Surrealism into cinema, performance and commerce, reinforcing his presence across multiple cultural registers.
In 1940 Dalí moved to the United States, where his output broadened to encompass religious imagery, nuclear mysticism, and large-scale set design. The 1940s–50s works maintain strong institutional presence. His return to Spain in 1948 coincided with increasing interest in holography, optical illusion and scientific themes.
Dalí died in Figueres in 1989. His work is represented in The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Tate, London; Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid; and the Dalí Theatre-Museum, Figueres.
Salvador Dalí
biography