Salvador Felice Jacinto Dali was born on May 11th 1904 in Figueres, a small town in Cataluña, Spain, where nowadays the “Dali Museum” can be found.

 

In 1922 the artist enrolled at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid: during this time, he was influenced by different types of art, for example Metaphysical painting and Cubism. In between 1926 and 1929, Dali made several trips to Paris, where he met very important artists like Picasso, Magritte, Mirò and the poet Paul Eluard: it was in this period that he was introduced to Surrealism, movement of which he became one of the greatest exponents. 

 

One of the most important events of his life was the meeting with Gala, who became his lover, his wife and his bigger inspiration. He wrote: “Amo a Gala más que a mi madre, más que a mi padre, más que a Picasso e incluso más que al dinero” (I love Gala more than my mother, more than my father, more than Picasso and even more than money). His art has many recurring symbols, such as the clocks, the ants, the eggs, or the elephants, protagonists of many of his sculptures. 

 

Dali died in 1989 at the age of 84.