Salvador Dali is a legend; everything about him is larger than life He is one of the best-known artists in the world, arguably the most eccentric and certainly the most ostentatious He has written more in explanation of his enigmatic work than most other artists, and yet his explanations' are rarely any less obscure than the paintings themselves.
He joined and was later expelled from - the Surrealist movement, the group of artists in the 1920s who sought to tap the subconscious directly in search of inspiration Dali's paintings, even though we can never fully understand them, are mysteriously compelling and disturbing with their strange symbolism, their odd juxtapositions and their ambiguous images His unrivalled technique heightens their power while the exotic titles stress the overall psychological dislocation.
Conroy Maddox shows us, for the first time, Dali from the inside and yet free from the labyrinthine false trails which Dali himself lays for those who dare to probe the secrets of his imagination. I he text deals with the decisive moments of Dali's private and professional life; it makes use of Dali's own revelations, of the author's personal experience of Surrealist art and his sense of historical perspective. It stresses how much Dali's art is only an aspect of his total way of life, and explains the diversity of paintings, films, objects and happenings he has created In particular the author shows clearly the change that has come over Dali's work since he left the Surrealist movement.
Illustrated with 48 colour and 12 black-and-white plates, including several of the 1970s never previously published, this book is an essential source for those who wish to understand the man who has made some of the most potent images of our time.
