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Dali began painting at eight years old, using techniques from various art books given to him by his father. Because of his great show of interest in art, he was given opportunity to stay at the Pinchot's house during the summer. The Pinchots were an artistic family who lived nearby and were friends with Dali's parents (Hodge 9). Dali was exposed to various artistic styles during his stays at the Pinchot's home, including Impressionism and Symbolism. Ramon Pinchot was one of Dali's earliest influences. He was in touch with new styles and trends in the art world, and kept in close personal contact with Picasso (Wood 7). Upon Dali's return, he urged his father to allow him to take professional art classes, and he was soon a part of a drawing class in Figueres. He showed great talent in drawing and learned necessary techniques and methods that would stay with him for the rest of his life as an artist (Hodge 10). .
Dali continued to paint all throughout his teen years, and at the age of seventeen Dali's father sent him to The School of Fine Arts in Madrid. While enrolled, he explored new movements in art, such as Fauvism, Cubism, and Futurism. Dali experimented with these styles, and further developed his artistic sense and .
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technique. Later, Dali became part of a new student group that matched his own interests (Hodge 9-10). Other members included Luis Bunuel, a Surrealist poet and Frederico Garcia Lorca, a Surrealist director (Taylor 93). During his enrollment in the School of Fine Arts, Dali was suspended for a year for insubordination, and later expelled in 1926 for refusing to allow professors to test him in art theory (Wood 7). Despite the fact that he never completed his education in art, his time in the school was invaluable. He met important new people with whom he would have strong connections with later in his life and became familiar with new art movements around the world (8).
