Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) is one of the most original and controversial figures of 20th-century modern art. Born in Catalonia, Spain, Dalí displayed both a vivid imagination and strong technical painting skills from an early age. His studies at the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid introduced him to various artistic movements, including Impressionism and Cubism. A turning point in his career came in 1929, when he met André Breton and other Surrealist artists in Paris.
Surrealism, which emerged in the 1920s, is an artistic and literary movement that championed the free expression of the unconscious and the projection of dream logic into art. In this movement, the boundaries between reality and imagination are blurred, with illogical scenes depicted using highly realistic techniques. Dalí expanded this approach with his own “paranoiac-critical method,” a technique in which irrational images are organized into deliberate compositional structures.
Among his most renowned works is La persistencia de la memoria (The Persistence of Memory, 1931), whose melting clocks symbolize the relativity of time and the fragility of perception. Metamorfosis de Narciso (The Metamorphosis of Narcissus, 1937) interprets a mythological subject through a double-image composition. La tentación de San Antonio(The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1946) presents religious symbols within a dreamlike atmosphere.
Dalí did not limit himself to painting on canvas; he also worked in sculpture, cinema, photography, and stage design. Thanks to his technical mastery, theatrical personality, and extraordinary world of imagery, he remains an unforgettable figure in both art history and popular culture.
