ARTISTS Salvador Dalí

The Master of Surrealism

Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech was born in 1904, on the morning of May 11th, in the small farming village of Figueres in Spain.

His parents bestowed upon him the name of his older brother, Salvador, who had tragically passed away shortly before Dalí’s birth. Salvador Dalí spent much of his childhood in Figueres and at his family’s summer home in the coastal village of Cadaqués, where his parents built his first studio. From an early age, Dalí was encouraged to develop his artistic talents, which eventually led him to leave for Madrid to study at the prestigious San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

In 1920, Dalí travelled to Paris, where he met artistic contemporaries such as Pablo Picasso, René Magritte, and Joan Miró; this contact led to his first Surrealist period. The painting for which he is best known is undoubtedly The Persistence of Memory, an oil painting on canvas measuring just 24 cm x 33 cm, depicting soft clocks draped over olive trees in a landscape clearly inspired by his native Catalonian countryside. As an adult, Dalí took up residence with his wife Gala near Port Lligat. Many of his paintings are inspired by and embody his love for this part of Spain.

Dalí died in Figueres in 1989.

SALVADOR DALÍ AND GALA

“I love her more than my mother, more than my father, more than Picasso, and even more than money.”
Salvador Dalí – 1965 – Diary of a Genius

Elena Ivanovna Diakonova, nicknamed Gala, first met Dalí in 1929 during a trip to Cadaqués with her family, the artist René Magritte, and his wife.

Despite an age difference of ten years, the romance between Dalí and Gala took hold quickly. She followed him to Paris, became part of the Surrealist movement, and married Dalí in 1934. Gala became Dalí’s muse, and he developed an obsession with her, representing her in many of his works.

Indeed, in his autobiography, My Secret Life, Dalí writes: “She was destined to be my Gradiva, she who advances, my Victory, my Woman.”

Gala held the position of Dalí’s manager, agent, and procurer of artistic contracts. She was in charge of accounts and dealt with galleries and merchants. She encouraged him to paint and had enormous influence on his artistic production.

After Gala’s death on June 10, 1982, Dalí retired from public life.