Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali

            Salvador Dali was delivered into this world on May 11, 1904 in the town of Figueres, Spain, which is only a mere 16 miles from the border of France.  He lived in this town for his whole childhood, and vacationed in the costal village of Cadaques during the summers.  This is where his parents built his first art studio.  Some of his paintings show his love of the area of Spain where he lived.

            After attending the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts, his talents as an artist were recognized in his first one-man show in 1925.  Dali soon became identified as a Surrealist, and was a leader of the Surrealist movement.  The Persistence of Memory is his most famous surrealist painting. 

            Dali had different views than the other Surrealists, and he began to have conflicts with them.  He was forced to leave the Surrealist group in 1940, although he continued to produce surrealist works for international exhibitions.  But by 1940, Dali had begun painting with religious and scientific viewpoints.

The Persistence of Memory
I found this portrait interesting because its very unique and it makes you think.

            When World War II began, Dali and his wife took off for the United States, where they stayed until 1948.  The Museum of Modern Art in New York provided Dali with his first retrospective exhibition in 1941.  Later, in 1942, Dali published an autobiography titled The Secret Life of Salvador Dali.  After this, Dali entered his classical period and produced many paintings including The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, and The Sacrament of the Last Supper.

The Sacrament of the Last Supper
I liked this portrait because I have learned about the Last Supper, and it was interesting to see Dali's interpretation of it. 

            In 1974 (by this time Dali was back in Spain) Dali opened the Teatro Museum in his hometown of Figueres.  Salvador Dali died of heart failure on January 23, 1989 in Figueres.  Dali was an artist of many genres and has famous works from nearly every style of art he worked in.

     The reason I like Salvador Dali is because he  has worked in so many different genres of art, so its easy to find a painting by him that you like.  I especially like his surreal paintings because they are so different and strange, and they make you think.  What I found interesting about Dali is the fact that he came back to the town of his childhood: he was born there, and he died there.  He was famous, and wealthy enough to live anywhere, but he chose to come back to his hometown.