“The only difference between me and a madman is that im not mad.”

Salvador Dali is one of the most famous Surrealist artist, and one of the most versatile artists of the twentieth century successfully using sculpture, printmaking, fashion, advertising, writing and filmmaking during his long career. His eccentric personality helped to pave way for artists to think of themselves as brands, that there’s no separation between Dali the work and Dali the man. This is shown in today’s landscape where artist are almost expected to be just as visibly and socially interesting as their artwork. Many of Dali’s settings and characters were inspired by Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theories. His signature curled mustache has been voted as one of the most influential pieces of facial hair in history. An interesting reason as to why he is so eccentric is that he believed he was the reincarnation of his dead brother. His mother had a son named Salvador Dali who died at 22 months and exactly 9 months later, the Dali we know was born. When he was five his parents brought him to his brothers grave and told him that he was the reincarnation of his dead brother. One of his favorite things was money, and he would do anything to get it. He would do things like over-price a piece and justify it by saying that the paint was mixed with the venom of a million wasps even though it wasn’t. Dali was also an expert at avoiding restaurant bills. He would invite a large group of people and happily write a check for the amount, but when the waiter was watching he would doodle on the back of the check knowing that no one would cash in a check with an original Dali sketch on it.

“Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.”