The shameful life of Salvador Dal - Ian Gibson

Ian Gibson has written the definitive biography of the surrealist painter who caught the imagination of the twentieth century. Dali produces a mixture of feelings in us: intense admiration for his paintings and writings; respect for his rebelliousness; delight at his Wildean wit; boredom with his brash, extravagantly moustached public persona; revulsion at many of the things he did (not least supporting the Franco regime).As Ian Gibson shows in his revelatory biography, Dali lived a 'shameful life' in every way: underlying his exhibitionism was an intense feeling of shame - the individual hanging his head is one of the recurrent themes of his painting. By way of compensation, he did some outrageous things. Relying on extensive original research and recently discovered sources, Ian Gibson presents a convincing portrait of this disjoined character. He emphasises the literary side to Dali's career - his voluminous correspondence, his novel, poems and essays; and re-examines the two principal relationships of his life - with Federico Garca Lorca, and with the enigmatic, libidinous Gala.