The third edition of this classic study, a thorough introduction to one of the most popular and recognizable artists of the 20th century.

Salvador Dalí was, and remains, among the most universally recognizable artists of the twentieth century. What accounts for this popularity? His excellence as an artist? Or his genius as a self-publicist? In this searching text, partly based on interviews with the artist and fully revised, extended and updated for this edition, Dawn Ades considers the Dalí phenomenon. From his early years, his artistic friendships and the development of his technique and style, to his relationship with the Surrealists and exploitation of Freudian ideas, and on to his post-war paintings, this essential study places Dalí in social, historical and artistic context, and casts new light on the full range of his creativity.

'One of our foremost historians of Surrealism … has had access to her subject – a privilege available to few – and her book is particularly revealing' - The Spectator
'A sensitive art-historical study' - Times Literary Supplement
'Richly documented and illustrated' - Arts Review

Dawn Ades is Professor Emerita of the History and Theory of Art at the University of Essex. She has written extensively on Dada, Surrealism, photography and women artists, among other things. Publications include Dada and Surrealism Reviewed, Writings on Art and Anti-Art, Marcel Duchamp (with Neil Cox and David Hopkins) and Photomontage. Among the exhibitions she has organised or co-organised are ‘Art in Latin America’ (1989); ‘Fetishism: Visualising Power and Desire’ (1995); ‘Salvador Dalí: The Centenary Retrospective’ (2004); ‘Undercover Surrealism’ (2006); and ‘Dalí/Duchamp’ (2017–18).