"Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was a famous Spanish surrealist artist and one of the most influential painters of the 20th century.

Born in the Spanish town of Figueres, Catalonia, he enjoyed a comfortable upbringing, although his mother died when he was just 16. In 1922, he went to Madrid to study painting at the Academy of Arts. Experimenting with Cubism and Dadaism, he developed his own signature avant-garde artistic style and also gained a reputation as an all-around eccentric. He did not take his final exams or graduate, because he believed his professors were not skilled enough to judge his work.

After his studies, he moved to Paris to live among his contemporaries and pursue an artistic career. He consorted with Pablo Picasso and Andre Breton, who greatly influenced his already eccentric and surrealist tendencies. His wildly imaginative artwork drew great acclaim in the ’20s and ’30s. After altercations with the surrealists, however, he broke with the group in the ’40s and went on to create paintings that were more realistic and rich with scientific and religious imagery.

Dali is known for his outstanding ability to combine the fantastic with the realistic, the religious with the morbid and strange. His most famous works include “The Persistence of Memory,” “The Temptation of St. Anthony,” “Mirage,” “Rose,” “Melting Watch” and others. Dali also worked in many other media, including film. He loved spectacular self-presentations, and his art both shocked and astounded, right up to his death in 1989.