Salvador Dalí biography Worksheet by J.

Acosta
Early Life
Salvador Dalí was born on May 11,
1904, in Figueres, Spain. His father,
Salvador Dalí y Cusi, was a middle
class lawyer and notary. Salvador's
father had a strict disciplinary idea to
raising his children, a style that
contrasted with his mother, Felipa Ferres. She often indulged young Salvador in his
art and early eccentricities. Young Salvador was a precocious and intelligent child,
sometimes, feeling anger against his parents and schoolmates. Consequently, Dalí
suffered furious acts of cruelty by more dominant students or his father. His father
couldn’t tolerate his son's outbursts or eccentricities, and punished him severely.
Father and son often competed for Felipa's affection.
Dalí had an older brother, born nine months before him, also named Salvador,
who died before he was born. When he was five years old, his parents took him to
the grave of his older brother and told him he was his brother's reincarnation. This
was a prose he often used in his artwork. "[We] resembled each other like two
drops of water, but we had different reflections." He "was probably a first
version of myself, but conceived too much in the absolute." Once he said.
At an early age, young Salvador was producing highly sophisticated drawings,
and both his parents supported his artistic talent. His parents built him an art studio
before he entered art school.
Dalí's parents sent him to drawing school at the Colegio de Hermanos Maristas
and the Instituto in Figueres, Spain in 1916. He was not a serious student, preferring
to daydream in class and staying out as the class eccentric, wearing odd clothing
and long hair. After that first year at art school, he discovered modern painting in
Cadaques (Spain) while vacationing with his family. And by 1919, Dalí had his first
public exhibition at the Municipal Theater in Figueres.
In 1921, Salvador Dalí's mother, Felipa, Dalí died and it devastated him. His
father married his deceased wife's sister. This action didn’t bring younger Dalí any
closer to his father, though he respected his aunt.
Art School and Surrealism
In 1922, Dalí enrolled in the Academia de San
Fernando in Madrid, Spain. There he brought his
eccentricity to a new level, wearing long hair and
sideburns, and dressing in the style of English
Aesthetes of the late 19th century.
In 1923, Dalí was suspended from the
Academy for criticizing his teachers and starting
a riot among students over the Academy's
choice of a professorship. That same year, he
was arrested and imprisoned in Gerona for
supporting the Separatist movement,
While in school, Dalí began exploring many forms of art including classical painters
like Raphael, Bronzino, and Valzquez (from whom he adopted his curled
moustache)

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 Between 1926 and 1929, Dalí made several trips to
Paris, and met with influential painters and intellectuals
including Pablo Picasso, whom he revered. He also met
Joan Miro, the Spanish painter and sculptor. Dalí was
working with Impressionism, Futurism, and Cubism. Dalí's
paintings became associated with three general themes:
depicting a measure of man's universe and his sensations;
the use of collage; and objects charged with sexual
symbolism.
In August, 1929, Dalí met Elena Diakonova , a Russian
immigrant, 10 years older than him. At the time, she was the
wife of surrealist writer Paul Eluard. A strong mental and
physical attraction developed between Dalí and Diakonova,
and she soon left Eluard to spend her life with Dalí. Also
known as Gala, she became Dalí's muse, inspiration, and
eventually his wife
By 1930, Salvador Dalí had become a notorious figure in the Surrealist movement
By the mid-1930s, Salvador Dalí had become a celebrity for his colorful personality
as for his artwork often wearing an exaggeratedly long mustache, cape, and walking
stick.
Final Years
During the World War II, Dalí and his wife moved to the United States. They
remained there until 1948 when he returned to Figueres, Spain.
From 1960 to 1974, Salvador Dalí dedicated much of his time to creating the Dalí
Teatro Museo (Theater-Museum) in Figueres. The museum was the former
Municipal Theater where Dalí had his public exhibition at the age of 14.It officially
opened in 1974.
In 1980, Dalí was forced to retire from painting due to a motor disorder that
caused permanent trembling and weakness in his hands. He was not able to hold a
paint brush, and lost the ability to express himself in the way he knew best. Then in
1982, his beloved wife and friend, Gala, died. The two events put him in a deep
depression. He moved to Pubol, in a castle he had purchased and remodeled for
Gala, possibly to hide from the public or, as some speculate, to die.
On January 23, 1989, he died of heart failure in Figueres.-
I- Write TRUE (T) or FALSE (F) Explain both CASES
1. Salvador Dalí was a Spanish Painter
2. Salvador Dalí was a quiet child
3. His father married his aunt
4. Paul Eluard was his father
5. In 1922 he studied in Madrid
6. Gala was a single woman when she met Salvador
7. Felipa Ferres was his muse
8. Dalí and Gala lived in USA
9. Salvador Dalí died being 85 years old

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