Salvador Dalí
Master surrealist, Persistence of Memory
Most quoted
"The fact that I myself, at the moment of painting, do not understand my own pictures, does not mean that these pictures have no meaning; on the contrary, their meaning is so profound, complex, coherent, and involuntary that it escapes the most simple analysis of rational intuition."
— from The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí
"The fact that I myself, at the moment of painting, do not understand my own pictures, does not mean that these pictures have no meaning; on the contrary, their meaning is so profound, complex, coherent, and involuntary that it escapes the most simple analysis of logical intuition."
— from The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí
"I am painting pictures which make me die for joy, I am creating with an absolute naturalness, without the slightest aesthetic concern, I am making things that inspire me with a profound emotion and I am trying to paint them honestly."
— from Letter to André Breton, 1929
All quotes by Salvador Dalí (305)
The only thing that matters is the imagination.
I am not interested in art for art's sake. I am interested in art for Dalí's sake.
The true artist is a man who is always in search of the truth, and who is always ready to sacrifice everything for it.
I would rather be a madman than a conformist.
The only thing that matters is the subconscious.
I am not interested in the real world. I am interested in the world of my dreams.
The only thing that can save the world is art.
The only way to escape the ordinary is to embrace the extraordinary.
The only thing that matters is the spectacle.
I am not interested in money. I am interested in immortality.
The only thing that can truly shock people is the truth.
I am not interested in being understood. I am interested in being felt.
The only thing that matters is the subconscious mind.
I am not a revolutionary. I am a reactionary.
The only thing that can truly liberate us is our imagination.
I am not interested in reality. I am interested in hyperreality.
The only thing that matters is the irrational.
I am not a painter, I am a magician.
The only thing that can truly inspire us is the absurd.
I am not interested in beauty. I am interested in the grotesque.
Contemporaries of Salvador Dalí
Other Visual Artss born within 50 years of Salvador Dalí (1904–1989).