Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dali i Domenech, Marques de Dali de Pubol (1904-1989) is one of the most recognizable artists of the 20th century.

You don't know who he is? Maybe you'd know him better by the name Salvador Dali.

With his signature long, pointy mustache, and his wild eyes, he cut quite a figure in the continental art scene.

Born in Spain, he claimed descent from an Arab lineage -- the Moors, the dashing, romantic figures of many a medieval tale. Whether this was a cause for his eccentricities, or just another symptom, is unknown. What is known is that he had what he called a "love of everything that is gilded and excessive, my passion for luxury and my love of oriental clothes."

His public behavior has been described as "unusual and grandiose." It seemed that his actions often upstaged his art, upsetting the staid world of art dealers and collectors.

One of his antics was the purchase of an ocelot as a pet, which he took everywhere--even into a New York restaurant. He told the worried patrons that it was just a regular cat that he had painted.

Another story of Dali's flamboyance is that of his wife Gala. She had been the wife of a friend when they met, and his family disowned him for marrying her. She continued to have extramarital affairs, and when he bought her a literal castle in Spain, she only allowed him to visit by written invitation.

The second time he visited America, in 1934, he arrived on a ship wearing a life vest that he had worn through the entire trip. He also held strings attached to all of his paintings, and waved a loaf of bread two meters long at the assembled photographers who met his arrival.

Compared to this, his surreal works, such as 1931's "The Persistence of Memory," seem tame. Nevertheless, seven of his paintings have sold for between US$4 and 22.4 million, fulfilling the dream of the 16-year-old boy who wrote in his notebook, "I will be a genius, and the world will admire me. Perhaps I'll be despised and misunderstood, but I'll be a genius, a great genius. I'm certain of it."

Vocabulary: Which word above means:

1. literally, covered with gold, thus, overly-fancy

2. overshadowed, made to look less important

3. ancestry, lineage

4. a small wild cat

5. Muslim peoples who occupied medieval Spain

6. pompous; acting overly-important

7. hated

8. outrageous behavior

9. stopped supporting, withdrew (his) inheritance

10. solid and slightly boring; unimaginative

ANSWERS: 1. gilded 2. upstaged 3. descent 4. ocelot 5. Moors 6. grandiose 7. despised 8. flamboyance 9. disowned 10. staid