In 1926, shortly after his final exams at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes San Fernando, Dali was expelled for starting an unrest. It was this revolutionary spirit that made Dali who he was, an unabashed dreamer. That year, he made his first visit to Paris where he met Picasso, whom he revered. Dali’s work was influenced by fellow spaniards like Picasso and Miro.
"There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he is sane. I know I am mad"
Born, get this, Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dali i Domenechm Marquis of Dali de Pubol, more commonly known as Salvador Dali, was a force of the 20th century art world. The man from Figueres, Catalonia, Spain, Dali was a prominent surrealist artist who captured our deepest subconsciousness. Dreams with striking and bizarre imagery, like his most famous work “The Persistence of Memory,” composed of melting pocket watches on a dead tree planted in land meant to represent the Cap de Creus peninsula in his home of Catalonia. Dali pushed the boundaries of our imagination and subject matters in art. An eccentric figure with his instantly recognizable mustache, Dali enjoyed indulging in unusual and grandiose behavior. His attention-grabbing public persona sometimes drew more attention than his artwork, much to the irritation of art critics, especially those that held his art in such high regard.
Dali’s work would continue to see similar trends that would be evident for the rest of his life. A versatile painter, he would display techniques common in classical painting, while at the same time use the most cutting-edge avant garde styles. Vermeer and Velazquez were among the old masters he would go on to emulate. Recurring themes of death, eroticism and psychoanalytical theories covered the canvas. Full of symbolism from fetishes to animal and religious imagery added to his reputation as a mischievous and purposeful provocateur personality.
Later in his career, Dali experimented with optical illusions, visual effects, and pointillism. Dali’s embrace of the Franco dictatorship, was strongly criticized by other artists and intellectuals who remained in exile, further adding to his divisive personality. In January of 1989 Dali died of heart failure, leaving behind a legacy of a man with strong views and even stronger impact to generations of artists he has inspired. Dali was a slender man that stood 5 feet 7 inches tall, but he was a giant among 20th century artists.