Salvador Dali was a famous Spanish surrealist painter born in 1904 in Figueres, Spain. He showed an early talent for art and had his first public exhibition at age 15. In the 1920s, he moved to Madrid to study art and became known for his eccentric style. He later experimented with Cubism and Dadaism and had his most famous painting, The Persistence of Memory, in 1931. Dali lived in the US during World War 2 and his Catholic faith and interest in science influenced his later works before his health declined in his old age.