Influenced by Impressionism and the Renaissance masters from a young age, he became increasingly attracted to Cubism and avant-garde movements. His best-known work, The Persistence of Memory , was completed in August He returned to Spain in where he announced his return to the Catholic faith and developed his "nuclear mysticism" style, based on his interest in classicism, mysticism, and recent scientific developments.
He also wrote fiction, poetry, autobiography, essays, and criticism. Major themes in his work include dreams, the subconscious, sexuality, religion, science and his closest personal relationships. To the dismay of those who held his work in high regard, and to the irritation of his critics, his eccentric and ostentatious public behavior often drew more attention than his artwork.
Petersburg, Florida , U. He had his first public exhibition at the Municipal Theatre in Figueres in , [ 24 ] a site he would return to decades later. I worshipped her I could not resign myself to the loss of a being on whom I counted to make invisible the unavoidable blemishes of my soul. A lean 1. He had long hair and sideburns, coat, stockings, and knee-breeches in the style of English aesthetes of the late 19th century.
Also in , he began what would become a lifelong relationship with the Prado Museum , which he felt was, 'incontestably the best museum of old paintings in the world. One of his earliest works to show a strong Futurist and Cubist influence was the watercolor Night-Walking Dreams Seven of the works were in his Cubist mode and four in a more realist style. Several leading critics praised his work.
The critical response was generally positive with Composition with Three Figures Neo-Cubist Academy singled out for particular attention. He submitted Dialogue on the Beach Unsatisfied Desires to the Barcelona Autumn Salon for ; however, the work was rejected because "it was not fit to be exhibited in any gallery habitually visited by the numerous public little prepared for certain surprises.
