Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) was a leading figure of Surrealism, renowned for translating dreams, anxieties and subconscious associations into meticulously rendered, often bizarre imagery. He studied at Madrid’s San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts before being expelled in 1926. Influenced by Sigmund Freud’s theories of dreams and the unconscious, Dalí developed what he called the “paranoiac-critical method,” using irrational associations and altered perception as tools for artistic creation. Dalí’s recurring motifs—melting clocks, insects, barren landscapes and distorted bodies—explore the instability of time, identity, desire and perception. Although his provocative personality and commercial ambitions eventually alienated him from Surrealist leader André Breton and others in the movement, Dalí achieved extraordinary popular recognition.