Taschen take a deep-dive into the surrealist world of Salvador Dalí

Surrealist, master of the subconscious and eccentric artist, Salvador Dalí’s distinctive dream-like world epitomises the modernist world of twentieth century art. Now, a new two-volume book from Taschen traces his journey from his native Catalonia and onwards to Paris and Hollywood, through his own letters, works, reviews and writings.

At the heart of Dalí’s work was his belief in what he termed the paranoiac-critical method, where he induced a paranoid state in order to tap into his unconscious. The resulting optical illusions and surprising image pairings became synonymous with his work, from the backdrops he created for his ballets to his unsettling photographs and use of now-iconic imagery, from melting clocks to lobster telephones.

As a young man, Dalí moved in avant-garde circles, befriending Catalan poet Federico Garcia Lorca before arriving in Paris in the 1920s and meeting Picasso, gaining access to a wider circle of creatives. Relocating to Hollywood, Dalí’s theatre, fashion and film projects with Hitchcock and Disney led him to international fame.

Thirty-five years after his death, the effects of Dalí’s works are still being felt. Alongside delicately-rendered reproductions of the artist’s key works, here sit rare portraits, magazine articles, sketches and book illustrations, an all-encompassing deep-dive into a very singular man.