(1904-1989)

One of the most famous and prolific artists of the twentieth century, Dali’s fantastic imagery and flamboyant personality made him the best known artist of the Surrealist movement. Born in Figueres, Spain in the northeastern province of Catalonia, Dalí trained in the early 1920s at the Madrid Academy, where he perfected his realistic and meticulously detailed style. However, after reading Freud, his passions turned to dreams and the unconscious. It was Salvador Dalí’s surrealist work, using bizarre dream imagery to create unforgettable and unmistakable landscapes of his inner world, that solidified the artist as a Modern Master.

Salvador Dalí's work can be found in the most prestigious private and public collections worldwide as well as in the permanent collections of major museums internationally, among them the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, the Guggenheim Museums in New York and Venice, the Tate Gallery in London, The Museum of Surrealism in Menlun, France and the Dali Museum in Figueres, Spain. The Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, is dedicated solely to Dalí's work, and three museums in Spain are part of the artist's legacy, the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, the Gala Dalí Castle Museum-House in Púbol and the Salvador Dalí Museum-House in Portlligat.

These works of impeccable provenance by the Surrealist master have been part of the Argillet family collection since their creation by Dali during his collaborative years with Pierre Argillet and demonstrate high standards of quality, and the empassioned collaboration between an artist and his publisher.  The friendship between Dali and his publisher, Pierre Argillet, spanned five decades. Argillet was an avid collector of Futurist, Dadaist and Surrealist works and had, from very early on, met with the major artists of the 20th century. But it was with Salvador Dali that a long and fruitful collaboration developed. They remained friends until Dali’s death in 1989.