Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) was a legendary Spanish painter and pioneer of Surrealism. Renowned for his bizarre imagery, technical virtuosity, and eccentric persona, he is best known for his 1931 masterpiece, The Persistence of Memory, featuring melting clocks. 

Born in Figueres, Spain, Dalí discovered Sigmund Freud's writings on the subconscious in the late 1920s. This heavily influenced his "paranoiac-critical" method, allowing him to paint "hand-painted dream photographs". His life and art were deeply shaped by two factors: the trauma of being named after his deceased older brother and his profound relationship with his wife and muse, Gala. 

Expelled from the Surrealist group in the late 1930s due to political conflicts and his commercial success, Dalí reinvented himself. He spent 15 years in the United States (1940–1955), where he became an international pop culture icon. He expanded his artistic genius into theater sets, jewelry design, and even collaborations with Hollywood icons like Alfred Hitchcock and Walt Disney. 

In his later decades, he returned to Spain, where he designed his own museum, the Dalí Theatre-Museum, located in his hometown of Figueres. He continued to create art until his death in 1989.