Life and Times of Salvador Dali
... Although art did not play a large roll in the society of the nineteen hundreds like it did in the times of the Renaissance and the Romans it did take into account the main events of the century. ... The most prominent painter of the surrealist movement is Salvador Dali. ... Dali was born in 1904 in Figueres, a small farming town in southeast Spain (Stoltz). ... Dali burst into the surrealist scene with his first personal show in Paris’ Goemans Gallery in 1929 (McNatt). ... Dali was also obsessed with money. ... Between 1929 and 1930 Dali and his friend Luis Bunuel, a Spanish film director, produced two surrealist pictures: An Andalusian Dog and The Golden Age (Misfeldt). ... Despite his dabbling with the film industry Dali is still best known for his obscure paintings. “The only difference between me and a madman,” Dali once said, “is that I am not a madman” (Richard). ... Dali’s painting are not considered some of the best works of modern art because of his skill, but after years of abstract painting (which was no more than splattered paint), his desert landscapes, sandy beaches dotted with headless nude women, and melting pocket watches acted as a breath of fresh air (Richard).