Salvador Dalí had a difficult childhood which ultimately shaped his life.

 

Salvador Dalí had a difficult childhood which ultimately shaped his life.

Salvador Dalí y Cuci, Dalí’s father, was an incredibly strict man, and as such he applied an incredibly disciplinarian approach to the way he raised Dalí.

His mother Felipa had other thoughts though, and treated Dalí in almost the exact opposite way, encouraging his artistic nature, as well as his eccentricities.

Through severe punishments from his father and abounding affection from his mother, it’s no small wonder he ended up a bit of an oddballDali’s 

mother gave birth to her first son in 1901, a child that she named Salvador and who died of gastroenteritis at 22 months old. Nine months after the child’s death, the Salvador we know was born, and took his dead brother’s name. Dali was told by his parents at the age of five that he was the reincarnation of his brother, a belief he carried into his adult life.

Dali wasn’t really into the whole “poor artist” thing. Dali was famed for his extraordinarily lavish lifestyle – above you can view one artwork, a beating heart encrusted with rubies – a lifestyle benefitted by his fame, star-studded company and his lack of financial scruples