The definitive biography of the surrealist artist 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.

The Shameful Life of Salvador Dali is an outstanding new biography by Ian Gibson, author of the acclaimed Federico Garcia Lorca: A Life
(described by William Boyd in the Daily Telegraph as 'a superb biography and a fascinating insight into Spain and the Spanish'). In this revelatory study, Gibson shows how Dali lived a 'shameful life' in everyway. Underlying his exhibitionism was an intense feeling of shame. As an adolescent he was crushed by an extreme sense of inferiority; his salvation lay in the creation of an outrageously exhibitionist persona dedicated to doing 'shameful' things.

Drawing on extensive original research and recently discovered sources, Ian Gibson presents a daringly different portrait of this disjointed character. He explores 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 Garcia Lorca, and with the enigmatic, libidinous Gala.

The Shameful Life of Salvador Dali is the most thorough and ambitious study of Dali ever written, and a valuable key to the nightmarish images that shook the world.