This thought-provoking book re-evaluates the work of one of the most notorious, provocative and visually influential artists of the twentieth century. Robert Radford traces Salvador Dali's career from the crucial early years in Spain, to membership of the Surrealist group in 1930s Paris, and then on to New York and Hollywood, where his purposefully extravagant behaviour made him a media star. The influential figures in his life - Federico Garcia Lorca, Luis Buñuel and his wife Gala - are introduced as the book explores Dali's diverse work as painter, writer, film-maker, illustrator, jewellery designer, myth-maker and performance artist.