Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí y Domènech, Marquis of Pubol, was born in Catalonia on May 11, 1904, and died on January 23, 1989. Best known as a surrealist painter, his artistic output also included film, sculpture, photography and writing. Dalí is also notorious for his eccentric behaviour and his involvement with the Dada movement, which often drew more attention to himself than his art.

In this new narrative exploration of Salvador Dalí, highly respected art and literary historian Mary Ann Caws surveys the life and work of one of the most fascinating and colourful figures in the history of art. She recounts the influence of the Catalan region and dialect on his early life, as well as his expulsions from school and from the School of Fine Arts in Madrid; his involvement with the Surrealists, and his work with Buñuel and their films Un chien andalou and L’Age d’or, and the impact and reception of both films at the time. Dalí’s turbulent personal life brought him into contact with a rich assortment of intellectual figures and Caws considers his relationships with his family and his lovers, including Elena Diakonova (Gala), who was married to the poet Paul Eluard when they met, and friends such as poet Federico García Lorca.

Caws also closely examines Dalí’s work: his famous Surrealist paintings, ‘hand-painted dream photographs’ such as The Persistence of Memory and Autumnal Cannibalism?, as well as his writing, photography, sculpture and film.

Well-researched, and full of telling anecdotes, Salvador Dalí will appeal to the large readership who are already familiar with this extraordinary artist, as well as to those who have heard much and wish to know more about the life and work of this pivotal figure in modern art.