Which 1942 Salvador Dalí autobiography describes his early life and artistic development?

Salvador Dalí’s 1942 autobiography describing his early life and artistic development is The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí.

The book covers Dalí’s childhood, education, family relationships, artistic ambitions, and rise to international attention. It was published in English in 1942, with an English translation by Haakon Chevalier. The memoir is notable for its dramatic tone and deliberately theatrical presentation of the artist’s personality.

Readers should treat the book as an autobiographical performance as well as a source of personal information. Dalí often exaggerated, stylized, or mythologized his experiences, so biographers compare his claims with letters, exhibition records, and accounts by other people.

The title is sometimes confused with Diary of a Genius, another Dalí book published later, in 1964. The earlier autobiography focuses substantially on his formation and public emergence, while the later volume takes a more diary-like and aphoristic form.