Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí I Domènech, better known as Salvador Dali, was a Spanish painter and one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. He remained one of the leading surrealist artists who gained commercial success in the United States in the mid-1900s. Dali’s artistry went far beyond painting and included sculpture, photography, fictional stories and poetry. He even wrote numerous critical literary works, having been a political activist in his younger days. Having lost his mother at an early age, he focused his efforts on mental exercise. Dali’s beliefs and eccentricities spurred on his art, as well as much controversy regarding his supposed undignified behavior as an academic. As one of the most recognized artists in the world, these words of Salvador Dali speak volumes on finding your creativity, drive, and strength.
1. “A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others.”
2. “Everything alters me, but nothing changes me.”
3. “Give me two hours a day of activity, and I’ll take the other twenty-two in dreams.”
4. “Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.”
5. “I am not strange. I am just not normal.”
6. “If you understand a painting beforehand, you might as well not paint it.”
7. “I shall be so brief that I have already finished.”
8. “Mistakes are almost always of a sacred nature, understand them thoroughly.”
9. “Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.”
10. “The true painter must be able, with the most usual things, to have the most unusual ideas.”
11. “Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.”
12. “The reason some portraits don't look true to life is that some people make no effort to resemble their pictures.”
13. “Man cannot change or escape his time. The eye sees the present and the future.”
14. “At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.”
15. “Whoever wants to engage people’s interest must provoke them.”
16. “You have to systematically create confusion, it sets creativity free. Everything that is contradictory creates life.”
17. “Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.”
18. “Begin by learning to draw and paint like the old masters. After that, you can do as you like; everyone will respect you.”
19. “I want to perceive and understand the hidden powers and laws of things, in order to have them in my power.”
20. “Don't bother about being modern. Unfortunately it is the one thing that, whatever you do, you cannot avoid.”
