2004 Spain €10 Silver "Dali: Great Masturbator"

• Mint: Fabrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre - Real Casa de la Moneda
• Denomination: €10
• Quality: Proof
• Issue limit: 25,000 pcs.
• Alloy: 92.5% Sterling Silver
• Diameter: 40 mm
• Weight: 27 grams
• Box/Capsule: Yes/Yes
• Certificate: Yes

2004 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Salvador Dali, one of the most extraordinary artists the world has encountered. The Spanish Mint celebrates this event with the release of a series of five coins.

"A true painter is one who can paint extraordinary scenes in the middle of an empty desert. A true painter is one who can patiently paint a pear in the midst of the tumults of history."

Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali y Domenech was born on May 11, 1904, in the small Catalan town of Figueres. Dali devoted himself to drawing and painting from a very early age, and in 1922 he began Fine Art studies in Madrid. Early recognition of his talent came with his first solo show in Barcelona in 1925, and he became internationally known when three of his paintings were shown at the Carnegie International Exhibition in Pittsburgh in 1928. The following year Dali left for Paris and joined the Surrealist group of painters and sculptors. Some of the works that were to make him one of the greatest representatives of Surrealism - such as "The Great Masturbator", "The Specter of Sex Appeal", "The Lugubrious Game" and "The Persistence of Memory" (Soft Watches) - date from this period. His painting "The Persistence of Memory" (1931) is still one of the best known surrealist works, but, the apolitical Dali clashed with the Surrealists and he was expelled during a mock trial in 1934.

In 1929 he met the young Russian girl Helena Diakonova - also known as Gala - who become his inspiration as muse, lover and business manager, and later also his wife. Together they visited the US in 1934, and later, coinciding with the start of the Second World War, they settled for a few years in the United States, where his realistic, yet dreamlike, style of painting met with considerable success. He wrote "The Secret Life of Salvador Dali", had a major retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1941, and also worked for cinema, theater, opera and ballet. Having become one of the most famous painters of his time, in 1948 he moved back to Europe, spending long periods at his fantastic villa in Port Lligat. During this period, Dali focused on the subjects of religion, history and science, and he produced 18 large-format canvases, among them some of his best-known works such as "Christ of St. John of the Cross", "The Hallucinogenic Toreador", "The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus" and "The Last Supper". During the 1970s, Salvador Dali created the Teatro Museo Dali in Figueres, which houses a large collection of his works. His wife, Gala, died in 1982, after which his health began too fail and he moved away from Port Lligat. In 1983, he created the Gala-Salvador Dali-Foundation as the institution that was to manage, protect and promote his artistic and intellectual legacy. His health deteriorated further after he was severely burned in a fire in 1984. Much of the years 1980-89 were spent in almost total seclusion, and, on January 23, 1989, Salvador Dali died in a hospital in Figueres from heart failure and respiratory complications.

The reverse features a replica of Dali's famous painting "The Great Masturbator" (1929). The obverse features a portrait of Salvador Dali, the anniversary logo, and the year of issue.