Dali, Salvador

The Spanish artist Salvador Dali is one of the most important surrealists. Born in Catalonia in 1904, he began studying art in Madrid in 1921. Subjects from his own extreme psychological states and visions as well as the influence of French Cubism, Italian Futurism and Sigmund Freud's theories on psychoanalysis shape his works.
 

The work "Honey is Sweeter than Blood" from 1927 is seen today as the announcement of his surrealist painting. By 1928, he had already been accepted into the Surrealist circle by his well-known fellow artist Joan Miro in Paris. His mission was to make the invisible visible and/or to show the unconscious visually. Thus he developed a symbolic secret language in a painterly way. Characteristic for Dali are cybernetic influences, as well as religious and mythological pictorial themes. In addition to works that became increasingly fantastic, the eccentric artist made the surrealist film "An Andalusian Dog" with Luis Bunuel.
 

Attention to detail in the application of color underscores the strict objectivity by means of which he illustrates his dream worlds. Melting clocks and burning giraffes as well as imposing tigers, staged in dreamscapes of sand and water, became his distinctive features. Despite loaded symbolism, the clever arrangement of his pictorial compositions allows for openness in ways of viewing and reveals different levels of meaning.
 

Later, Dali also worked on three-dimensional works and experimented with collage techniques. Thus, with numerous mixed media techniques, etchings, lithographs and woodcuts, he is one of the most versatile graphic artists of the 20th century. His works on "Don Quixote", "Faust" and "Alice in Wonderland" became renowned. Even during his lifetime, his work was considered one of the most important in the art market.