Picture "Swans Reflect Elephants" (1937), framed

For Salvador Dalí, painting is the visualisation of his imagination, which is stimulated by a reality he has created himself. For him, dreams and hallucinations are the real world. The subject matter of his works is characterised by constant self-exploration and the influence of Freud's psychoanalysis.

The main representative of Verist surrealism began his training at the Madrid Academy but was expelled from it for his rebellious behaviour. However, he continued to study the paintings of old masters, whose motifs can be found in his own works. His early work was influenced by Cubism and Italian Futurism.

Through Miró's mediation, he joined the Surrealist circle in 1928. There he met Gala, the muse of the Surrealists. She became his partner and the model for numerous paintings.

The versatile artist was not only concerned with painting and sculpture but also with film. Together with Buñuel, he made the short film "Un Chien Andalou" (An Andalusian Dog) in 1929. His first book followed a year later, in which he explained his "paranoiac-critical method".

In 1940, Dalí went to the USA for eight years and worked there mainly in the fashion and advertising industries. Returning to Spain, he professed Catholicism and added more and more religious and mythological themes to his work.

The bizarre forms and figures in his paintings often deviate from reality and are combined with absurd combinations of objects to create a fantastic dream world. Yet despite all this, they possess an astonishing realism. For Salvador Dalí, an essential element of his art and his behaviour was staged provocation.