Salvador Dalí is perhaps the most universally famous and popular twentieth-century artist. What accounts for this popularity? Is it his excellence as an artist? The accessibility of his imagery? Or his genius as a self-publicist?

In a searching text, completely revised and updated in this edition to incorporate new information that has come to light since Dalí’s death in 1989, Dawn Ades considers some of the puzzling questions raised by the Dalí phenomenon. His early years, the development of his technique and style, his relationship with the Surrealists, his exploitation of Freudian ideas, and the image which Dalí created of himself as the mad genius artist are all explored in this brilliant and thought-provoking study.