Salvador Dali

With his iconic melting clock painting "The Persistence of Memory," Spanish artist Salvador Dali (1904 – 1989) created the most famous Surrealist painting in history. Dali was an artist, author, provocateur, and one of the most notable figures of the Surrealist movement. He studied art in Spain and developed his Surrealist artistic style after discovering Sigmund Freud's writings on the erotic significance of subconscious imagery. He created archetypal Surrealist paintings and two Surrealistic films with Spanish director Luis Bunuel, and then switched to painting in a more academic style in the late 1930's. With his exaggerated mustache and flamboyant style, Salvador Dali was as notorious for his colorful personality as he was his artwork.