Biography

23 facts about Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali - one of the most recognizable artists of the 20th century.

Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dali and Domenech, the Marquis de Pubol, was the son of a notary, Catalan painter, surrealist, who was born in Figueres in 1904 and died there in 1989. He showed his artistic abilities as a child. At the age of 14 he successfully exhibited his paintings. Dali is the creator of many works that cause a lot of emotions and controversies.

1.He was the first marquis of Dali de Pubol.

The castle of Pubol was a gift for Salvador's great love Gala. When Dali became the owner of the castle, he was knighted by the Marquis of Pubol. The reason he bought the castle was to visit Gala. He decorated the interior of the castle himself.

2.He never graduated.

While studying at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid, he was known for his eccentric behavior and dressing in the style of the nineteenth-century British dandy. He never finished school, was thrown out twice. First time for participating in a student protest, the second time just before the final exams. He believed that he was better qualified than people who would examine him.

3.He was the author of many aphorisms.

Dali used to say, "There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he is sane. I know I am mad."

4.While creating, the artist never used substances "modifying consciousness". He used to say: "I don't do drugs. I am drugs."

In the early 1930s, he developed a method called paranoid-critical. This method was based on pretending to be insane. For example, he stared at the painted object until he himself began to "change form", becoming a kind of hallucination. This method has become crucial for the development of surrealism.

5.He loved ripping money off of naive people.

The closest friend, confidant and muse of the artist Amanda Lear recalls that John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, wanted to buy a fragment of Dali's famous mustache. He, however, "thought that Yoko Ono was a witch and did not want her to possess any of his private items, and certainly a mustache." So he sent Lear to the garden to gather a dry, faded blade of grass. He packed it elegantly and sent to Yoko. Yoko Ono paid $ 10,000 for it.

6.Dali was the third Salvador in the family.

This was also name of his father and older brother, who died nine months before the birth of the painter. Once, during a visit to the cemetery, parents told Salvador, who was 9 then, that he was the reincarnation of his brother. Dali believed this all his life. He dedicated a painting to his dead brother in 1963 years called "Portrait of my dead brother".

7.Dali was fascinated by Hitler.

He claimed that he often dreams of him, like other men dream of women.

8.He had eccentric ideas already in high school.

From this period he was remembered not as an extremely talented student but for creating a spectacle in which he threw himself down the stairs in front of the entire school audience.

9.He was always fascinated by the legendary painter Pablo Picasso.

While in Paris in 1927, he met with Picasso in his atelier, where the painter showed him his works. They made a huge impression on Dali but he later claimed that one of his paintings is worth more than all of Picasso's.

10.Dali designed the Chupa Chups logo.

During his career he created many advertisements and logos.

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