Big Shoes to Fill
Born on May 11th, 1904, and hailing from the Spanish town of Figueres, near the border of Catalonia, his full name was Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dal i Domenech, 1st Marquess of Dal de P bol.
His father was a stern man with a strict approach to parenting and multiple titles which include being an anti-clerical atheist, a Catalan federalist, and his professional title, a middle-class lawyer and notary.
The First Salvador Dali
Salvador Dali actually had an elder brother, born three years prior to him, who was also named Salvador at the time of his birth but died of gastroenteritis towards the end of 1903, and his name was passed on to his brother. The idea of his lost brother haunted the artist throughout his life and spurred on much of his creativity.
He spent much of his time recreating images of his brother, obsessing over the similarities in their appearances. Studying art at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Dali’s paintings were received with much awe and attention as he experimented with Cubism, an early indication of Dali’s uniqueness.