Salvador Dalí was born on May 11, 1904. He began to draw and paint in earnest at a very young age and in 1922 he took up the study of Fine Arts in Madrid. During his stay in the Students' Residence he developed great friendships with the poet Federico García Lorca and the film-maker Luis Buñuel, and carried out with them many avant-garde artistic projects.

After studying in Madrid Dalí left for París where he joined the group of surrealist painters and writers. Dating from this period are some of the works that would make him one of the maximum representatives of surrealism, namely "The Great Masturbator", "The Spectre of Sex Appeal", "The Lugubrious Game" and "The Persistence of Memory". In 1929 he met the young Russian woman Helena Diakonova, known by the assumed name of Gala, who remained thereafter his model and companion.

Coinciding with the start of the Second World War, Salvador Dalí and Gala set up residence for a number of years in the United States where Dali's painting style, realist and onirical, enjoyed much success. He penned "The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí" and also worked in film, theatre, opera and the ballet. From the nineteen forties came important works such as "Soft Self-portrait with Grilled Bacon", "The Basket of Bread", "Leda Atomica" and "The Madonna of Portlligat". Having become one of the most famous painters of his day, in 1948 he returned to live in Europe and spent long periods at a time in his house and studio at Portlligat.

During the seventies Salvador Dalí created and inaugurated the Dalí Theater-Museum in Figueres, where a large collection of his work is exhibited ranging from his first steps and his surrealist creations to the works produced in the latter years of his life. After living for many years in Portlligat, upon the death of his wife Gala he moved to El Castillo de Púbol for a few years, then spent the last period of his life in La Torre Galatea, near the Dalí Theater-Museum in Figueres, where he wished to be buried.

In 1983 he created the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation, the institution that manages, safeguards and promotes his artistic and intellectual legacy.

He died on January 23, 1989.