Face of Mae West, 1935

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was a Surrealist painter, today regarded as the iconic face of the movement. Dali was an impeccable draughtsman who merged hyper-realism with 'automatism' to create fantastical, haunting imagery. His famous paintings are enigmatic and dream-like, populated by bizarre, organic forms steeped in symbolism. Dali himself was an eccentric character whose personality was mirrored in the flamboyance of his work.