"The most important events which can be happen to a contemporary painter are two in number: 1. To be Spanish. 2. To be named Gala Salvador Dali." Dali. "The Secret Life of Salvador Dali"

"Catalonia the nose of the earth!"

Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali was born on the morning of May 11, 1904 in Figureas, a small town in the northern part of Catalonia. His father Salvador Dali y Cusi was the state notary, a dictatorial and passionate man but liberal minded. His mother - Felipa Doménech.

To every Catalonian, the country or the place which saw his birth is truly the center of the world. As for Dali, it is a question not only of men but also for of the privileged place par excellence when he exclaims, "Do you believe that, since the earth is round, you will find lanscapes everywhere ? Does a round face have several nose ? There are very few landscapes. They all converge here. Catalonia is the nose of the earth!"

1914 Dali started go to school. At school he spent more time developing his natural exhibitionism than trying to get good grades. Salvador Dali started to paint when he was eight years old. Quickly aided by his keen eye and an excellent memory, he joyfully seized upon the landscape and himself as subjects in Self-Portrait in the Studio, Cadaqués (1919) and Self-Portrait with the Neck of Raphael (1920).

In spite of his liberalism, Dali`s father would undoubtedly not have agreed so readily to his son becoming a painter if he had not been encouraged by his best friends, the Pichot family. Dali was exposed to Impressionism through the paintings of Ramón Pichot, which he saw at the Pichot home in Figureas, at their country estate called the Mill-Tower, and at their summer home in Cadaqués. Most of the pictures of this period are Panoramas von Cadaqués and building or fishing scenes. The influence of Impressionism is clearly seen in the work of young Catalonian artist up to 1919. The canvases depict the town with its fortified church, the coves and olive trees, scenes of daily lifeAnother, peasant women, and , of course, the fisherman, both young and old, similar to Old Man at Twilight (1917-18). Another style of painting is on Dalis`s Portrait of Grandmother Ana Sewing (1917)

1918 He began the cherries, using three colors pressed by hand from tubes: light, carmine for the shadow, white for the reflection.Animated rhythmically by the regular grinding noise of the mill, the picture became a fascinating game of skill which Dali completed with a collage of real cherry stems. Together with local painters in May 2 Dali make first presentation of his paintings exhibition in Town theatre Figureas.

1919 Dali began to work in magazine Institute von Figureas Stadium. He wrote about Michelangelo, Leonardo, Durero, El Greco, Goya and Velázquez. In a same time he is working in humor magazine El senõr Pancrácio.
From 1920 to 1921, the vigorous impressionistic touch. The influence of the Fauves and of Bonnard is evident in such canvases as Back View of (1921), Portrait of the Violoncellist Ricardo Pichot (192Cadaqués0) and Portrait of José M. Torres (1920). But already Dali was using multiple styles, experimenting with several techniques at the same time. The distemper drawings, representing country scenes full of happiness, date from this period, like Romeria (1921), Llaner Beach in Cadaqués (1921).

1921 The notary Dali had decided that his boy should pursue his art studies at the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid, in order to obtain a diploma as professor of drawing. Influenced by Juan Gris, Seurat, and thavante Italian Metaphysical School, he then painted his first Cubist works. Dali was quickly disappointed in the teaching at the Academy. He, emerging from his reserve, joined with the most avant-garde of all: Pepín Bello, Federico García Lorca, Luis Buñuel, Pedro Garcías, Eugenio Montes, and Raphael Barades.

"Rarery does a young painter appear with so much aplomb as this Salvador Dali, child of Figureas"

1922 October: His works were shown in Dalmau Gallery in Barcelona. Breton with Picabia, Max Ernst and Man Ray organized in Paris first surrealist group.

1923 Dali was suspended for a year from the San Fernando Academy, following incidents occurring because of the appointment of a new professor of painting. Dali was accused of having incited the students to riot against the choice of a mediocre artist. Returning to his family, Dali, who already flaunted perverse ideas - although being apolitical, as he has remained all his life - was arrested and imprisoned for a few weeks in Gerona. He is still very interest on Cubism ( specially Juan Gris paintings). Influence from italian metaphysics school gain strength too ( Carlo Carra and Giorgio de Chirico).

1924 Dali returned to the San Fernando Academy.In a same time decelerated Breton his first surrealistic manifesto and newspaper "La revolution surrealiste".

In 1924, pursuing his experiments of the year before - as in Cadaqués (1923) - and his thorough studies in composition, he was at the same time working on Cubist and Purist canvases, such as Bouquet of flowers (1924), as well as figurative landscapes - for instance, Port Alguer (1924) - quite similar to those that Derain and Waroquier were painting at that period. The Bathers on Llaner Beach (1923), Ana Maria (Artist`s sister) (1924), Crystal Nature (1924), First Day of the Spring (1922-23) are a paintings of this period too.

1925 April: first visit Federico Garsía Locra to Cadaqués and to Figureas.This old friend from the Madrid pension who "sparkled like a diamond" quickly won the hearts of Dali's father and sister by reading his poems and the story of his play Mariana Pineda to them.

This summer Dali painted a series of portraits and landscapes, all luminous and barren - such as Portrait of the Artisti`s Father (1925) and Girl Standing at the Window (1925), Seated Girl, seen from the Back (the artist`s sister) (1925) .

November 14-27: his first one-man show in Barcelona. At the Dalmau Gallery were exhibited Dali's pictures of the summer. Picasso and Miró have interested on Dali. In november Locra made a second visit to Cadaqués and to Figureas. Lacra had dedicated a dazzling ode to his friend. Though it was first entitled Didactic Ode to Salvado Dali, the adjective "didactic" quickly disappeared.

1926 Dali come with her sister and aunt first time to Paris and Brussel. He made in Paris a visit to Picasso. On October 20 Dali was permanently expelled from San Fernando Academy. At the end of the year Dalmau Gallery displayed The Rocks of Llaner (1925) , Figure on the Rocks - Penya Segats (1926), Venus and Cupids (1925) and The Basket of bread (1926). The Catalonian critics gave the Dalmau exhibition a warm reception. From this year are La noia dels rulls (1926), Frau mit Matrose (1926), Cubistic Self - Portrait (1926) too.

1927 February: Dali have finished his military duty. In Goya - Theatre in Barselona artist group von Margarita Xirgú is playing a production of "Mariana Pineda". Stage scenery and costume was made by Dali.
He spend a summer together with Locra and Regino Sáinz de la Maza in Cadaqués. Here he wrote a poem "Saint Sebastián", who was published in "L`Amic de les Aris". Locra has translate this poem and published it newspaper "El Gallo".

Versailies, the Musée Grévin and Picasso

At the beginning of 1927 Dali spent his first week in Paris, "marked," he says, "by three important visits: Versailles, the Musée Grévin, and Picasso."
If in 1926 and at the beginning of 1927 the influences were still very diversified - Reclining Woman (1926), Still Life by the Moon (1927), Barcelonese Mannequin (1927) or self - portrait entitled Harlequin (1927) - as early as the summer 1927, until spring of 1929, his works owe little others. We can group them into three categories. First, the measure of man`s universe and his sensations. of which Blood In Sweeter Than Honey (1927), Apparatus and Hand (1927), or Inaugural Gooseflesh (1928) , Senicitas (1926-27) are good examples to discover in these early oils the true genetic code of all the following woks. Several of these works when shown in Barselona caused a scandal, among them Female Nude(1928) and Unsatisfied Desires (1928). Finally, a series of ideographic canvases still unknown today, since most of them have disappeared, whose utilization has remained a hidden constant, present in all Dali`s works.

1928 Lluí Montanyà, Sebastiá Gasch and Dali published the Manifest Groc. In autumn of 1928 his old friend Luis Buñuel came to Figureas, where he and Dali wrote the scenario for the best - known Surrealist movie, Un Chien Andalou. Dali made his second trip to Paris in the company of his compatriot Joan Miró. It was that he met the Surrealists and made a tour of the most famous brothels in the capital, later reaching these conclusions: "The tree places which have produced upon me the deepest impression of mystery are: the stairway of the 'Chabanais', the Theater of Palladio in Vicenza, and the entrance to the tombs of the kings of Spain in the Escorial, because for me eroticism must always be ugly, the aesthetic always divine, and death beautiful."

The painter was at a turning point in his life, first it was because his research work of the preceding years had led along a parallel path with the guests of Locra in a climate where friendship had given way to the loving passion of the poet of Granada, which greatly upset a painter. Dali did not hesitate to write later concerning this episode in "Les Passions selon Dali":"When Locra tried seduce me, I refused with horror." Second, because Dali's desire to satisfy his erotic reveries, already well systemized if not completely dominated, did not estrange him from women, even though at twenty-four he was no longer virgin, his amours experiences with women still remained limited and far behind the love affairs conjured up by his vivid imagination.

To be continued...