Salvador Dali, art icon

He was born on May 11, 1904, as Eugenio Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali, in Figueres, Catalonia.

Salvador Dali, a Spanish painter, eccentric and one of the most important surrealists of the 20th century, who pushed the boundaries of art. He is one of the most creative painters of all time.

"Persistence of Memory" (1931) This is probably one of the best examples of surrealism, although at the time Dali painted it he was not part of the movement.

At the age of ten, El Salvador started attending painting classes, when his talent also began to manifest, and later he enrolled at the Academy of Painting in Madrid. He quickly attracted attention with his strange appearance and eccentric behavior. He did not finish the academy because of his rebellious character and because his school never went well. He often disrupted classes and protested, and was eventually expelled from school.

Salvador Dali was only 16 years old when he wrote in his diary: "I will be a genius and the whole world will admire me. I may be underestimated and misunderstood, but I will be a great genius, I am sure of that."

He held his first public exhibition in 1919 at the theater in Figuerac, and had his first solo exhibition in Barcelona in 1925.

Paris 1926, Pablo Picasso. Picasso had a strong influence on his works, and over time Dali developed his own style. Then he painted the work "Venus and Cupid", which belongs to Cubism. In addition to cubism, he also experimented with impressionism, pointillism, and futurism.

In August 1929, he met a Russian immigrant, Elena Dmitrievna Diakonova, ten years older than him. She was his muse, inexhaustible inspiration and support, and he stayed with her for the rest of his life. According to him, only she fully understood him. Salvador and Gala were married in 1934 at a civil wedding, and twenty-four years later they did the same in the Catholic Church. He never left her company. She was the center of the world for him. Dalí's wife Gala died in her sleep in 1982. What he feared most happened was that she would leave before him and be left alone. El Salvador fell into a deep depression and twice tried to take his own life.

During his favorite play "Tristen and Isolde", on January 2, 1989, Dali died, and after his death he left all his works and wealth to Spain.

All his life he believed he was special. Many consider him the greatest genius, while for some he was a disturbed egocentric whose deeds are worthless.

He left behind many masterpieces that still have great cultural and financial value.