About Salvador Dali

A flamboyant painter and sometime writer, sculptor and experimental film-maker, Salvador Dali was probably the greatest Surrealist artist, using bizarre dream imagery to create unforgettable and unmistakable landscapes of his inner world. Dali often clashed with Andre Breton and other members of the "official" Surrealist circle over the content of his paintings and the right-wing views he sometimes espoused, and was kicked out of the group in 1934. Breton coined a brilliant anagram for Dali's name: Avida Dollars (which more or less translates to "Eager for Dollars"); Dali shot back, The only difference between me and the Surrealists is that I am a Surrealist .

Despite all that was written by and about him, Dalí remained a mystery as a man and as an artist. A curious blend of reality and fantasy characterized both his life and his works.