Considered by many to be the greatest artist of the Surrealist Art Movement and acknowledged as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, Dali was born in 1907 in Figuera, Spain. His talents were recognized at age 10, when he received his first formal art lessons from a Spanish Impressionist painter, Ramon Pichot.

He later he attended the Royal Academy of Art in Madrid but was expelled for indiscipline in 1923. In 1928 he went to Paris where he met Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro and soon established himself in the Surrealist movement. He was soon to develop his own style which he called "hand painted dream photographs” characterized by minute detail, virtuoso technique and Freudian dream symbolism, all executed in a near photo realistic style.

In 1940 Dali settled in the USA, not returning to Europe until after the war. In addition to painting Dali was a jewellery and clothing designer, book illustrator, writer and filmmaker. Dali died in 1989, at the age of 85, leaving his entire fortune and works to the Spanish State. There are 2 museums devoted solely to Dali's works, one in St. Petersburg in Florida, USA and the other in Figueres, Spain.