Salvador Dalí is perhaps the most universally famous and popular artist of the twentieth century. On the occasion of the centenary of his birth comes the definitive retrospective of the artist's work from his early years. Dalí explores the development of the artist's technique and style, his relationship with the Surrealists, and his exploitation of Freudian ideas, as well as the image Dalí created of himself as the mad genius artist. This catalogue will be the major reference work for Dalí for decades to come. It includes illustrations of all the works loaned to the exhibition, as well as comparative illustrations and photographs.

The volume contains an introductory essay by Dawn Ades, with scholarly research incorporated in a "Dalí Dictionary," in the entries on individual works, and in the chronology, which includes a quantity of new material. The guide draws upon the best scholarship available on Dalí, including that of Hank Hine, Director of the Salvador Dalí Museum, Jennifer Mundy, Senior Curator of the Tate Museum, and Michael Taylor, Acting Chief Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.