A. Salvador Dali was born in Figueras, Spain in 1904. He was actually the third Salvador Dali. His father was named Salvador and his brother was named Salvador. Salvador was born on the same day as his brother died so they chose to look at him as a reincarnation or their first son. The memory of him being a reincarnation of his dead brother haunted him for the rest of his life. One of his favorite pastimes was parading around the house in a blue sailor suit and sometimes an emperor costume. He was treated special because his parents were afraid he would die just like his brother did. This was the treatment when he was a young child that relates directly to his formation of very unique style of painting. When he was young, the local school children threw insects like grasshoppers at him which became a symbol of horror for Dali during his Surrealist period. In 1908, his parents had
2. His painting “Metamorphosis of Narcissus” which he painted in 1937 also was painted with oil on canvas and was 50.8x78.3 cm. It is part of the Edward James collection in the Tate Gallery in London. Dali’s inspiration for this painting came from a conversation he overheard between two fisherman that were talking about a local man that would stare at himself for hours in the mirror. One of the men described him as having a “bulb in his head” meaning he was mentally ill. Dali combined that image with the ancient Greek of Narcissus who fell in love with his own reflection.
1. His painting “Sleep” which he painted in 1937 was painted with oil on canvas and was 51x78 cm. It is part of a private collection. It was painted for Edward James, a British millionaire who was Dali’s patron from 1936 to 1939. It shows the body’s collapse into sleep and shows a soft head that appears vul
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