This film profile, made in 1986 for Arena, is shown in tribute to one of the most famous and flamboyant figures of 20th-century art, who died recently in Figueras in Spain.
Dali was the great showman of surrealism, the creator of the soft watch and the lobster telephone. As a painter his style was unique, yet, perhaps, he will be best remembered for his personality: he was a self-proclaimed genius.
After suffering serious injury in a suspicious fire in 1984 Dali lived as a recluse.
Having courted publicity all his life, he spent his last years shrouded in secrecy. The programme traces his career through film, much of it from Dali's own private archive, and combines the testimony of his closest associates, including Captain Peter Moore and Amanda Lear , and his surrealist contemporaries Max Ernst , Luis Bunuel and Man Ray , with Dali's own extravagant account of his life and adventures.
Arena editors NIGEL FINCH and ANTHONY WALL
Director ADAM LOW (R)