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 All About Art
Salvador Dali And Surrealism
published: May 2008
By Tamar Burris, Contributing Writer
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Salvador Dali was a famous Spanish artist. Although his paintings and sculptures are among his most familiar works, Salvador also created jewelry, constructed scenery for theater productions and even worked as a photographer and clothing designer!
Salvador Dali was born in the mountain town of Figueres, Spain, on May 11, 1904. His family was wealthy, so young Salvador spent part of his childhood in Figueres and part at the Dali vacation home in the coastal village of Cadaques, where his parents built Salvador his first art studio. His mother encouraged Salvadors love of art, and as a small boy, Salvador attended drawing school and studied modern art. At 17, he left home to attend the San Fernando Academy of Fine Art in Madrid. An extremely talented artist, Salvador had his first one-person art show in Madrid when he was just 21 years old.
 In 1926, Salvador visited France for the first time. There he became interested in surrealism, a style of art that uses a lot of dream-like and fantasy images. Instead of painting, drawing or sculpting real-life people and situations, surrealist artists create fantasy images, like a landscape of melting clocks or a woman with a bouquet of flowers as a head. Salvador soon became a leader in the Surrealist Movement and had many successful surrealist art exhibits. In the 1930s, he officially left the surrealist group and began experimenting with new techniques. However, his art would always look dreamlike and surreal.
During World War II, Salvador and his wife, Gala, escaped Europe and moved to the United States, where they lived through 1948. Salvadors fame grew during these years. He had a major show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and published his autobiography, The Secret Life of Salvador Dali. Then, in 1949, the Dalis moved back to Spain. Salvador continued to show his art all over the world for several decades, holding exhibits in London and Paris, among other places. And in 1974, a museum dedicated entirely to his works opened in Salvadors hometown of Figueres.
Salvador died in Figueres on January 23, 1989. A gifted and versatile artist, his work can still be seen at museums all over the world.
Written by Tamar Burris, a former elementary school teacher who now works as a freelance writer and curriculum developer for PBS, the Discovery Channel and other education-related companies. Sources: Biography of Salvador Dali from the Salvador Dali Museum, www.salvadordalimuseum.org; Salvador Dali on Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org.
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