At the age of six, Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) To become a chef, to be Napoleon at the age of seven. "Since then," he later said, "my ambition and with it my megalomania have grown steadily. Now I only want Salvador Dalí be, that is my greatest wish.”

This weighty volume is the most comprehensive study of Dalí's paintings ever published After years of research, Robert Descharnes and Gilles Néret succeeded in almost all images of the extremely productive artist. Many works have been inaccessible for years, and almost half of the images included here have hardly been seen before. Far more than a catalogue raisonné, this book examines Dalí's oeuvre and his Meaning in the context of contemporary documents, own writings, drawings, sketches and ephemera as well as other areas relevant to his work such as ballet, cinema, fashion, advertising or arts and crafts.

The study is divided into two parts: The first part examines the Dalí's beginnings as an unknown artist . We see how the young Dalí used all the prevailing styles – Impressionism, Pointillism, Cubism, Fauvism, Purism, and Futurism – with playful mastery, allowing himself to be inspired by trends before making fun of them. The second part presents the Results of Dalí’s lifelong incentive to question things, as well as the great legacy he left in works such as Tuna fishing (1966/67) or The hallucinogenic torero (1970). The volume contains previously unpublished homages to Velázquez or Michelangelo – Variations on Old Masters, such as those Picasso created around the same time.