Never one to hide his light under a bushel, the great showman and painter Salvador Dalí, born a century ago in May, would have been delighted to see the hysteria being created worldwide to commemorate his centenary. More than a dozen shows are happening in his native Spain, and there are also major exhibitions in Italy, France, the Netherlands and the USA. The celebrations, which have been five years in the planning, were launched last October by King Juan Carlos of Spain who, with Queen Sofia, is acting as Honorary President of Dalí 2004. I asked Montse Aguer, Commissioner for the Dalí centenary celebrations, why such a fuss is being made about the anniversary: “Dalí’s work is very important. We think it’s the right time to undertake an overview of this major 20th-century artist.” Félix Fanès, cocurator of the main centenary exhibition, agrees: “Without Dalí, we cannot understand the 20th century. His work always excites curiosity, because he plays with opposites in a very ambiguous way.”

The artist’s colossal output also has a lot to do with his continuing success. As well as painting more than a thousand oil paintings, Dalí made films and advertisements, sculpted, wrote novels and autobiographies, designed sets for plays and ballets and created objects ranging from furniture to jewellery.

Above: Study for Destino, by Walt Disney, 1946

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There’s plenty of material to go around, providing fodder for numerous touring exhibitions in addition to the permanent museums of Dalí’s work at Figueres in Spain, at London’s Dalí Universe and at the Salvador Dalí Museum in St Petersburg, Florida.

The biggest and most important of the centenary exhibitions is 'Dalí: Mass Culture’ (co-curated by Fanès and Aguer), on show at Barcelona’s CaixaForum until late May, before travelling to Madrid, Florida and the Netherlands (see page 43). Featuring more than 400 works, it’s the first exhibition ever to concentrate on Dalí’s fascination with popular culture. Among the show’s highlights is the surrealist cartoon movie Destino, which Dalí drew for Walt Disney in 1946. Disney abandoned the project before completion, pleading financial difficulties, and it was not until 2002 that the six-minute film was finally completed. Visitors to the exhibition will also be able to see the two screen tests Dalí made with Andy Warhol, and the drawings he made for the dream sequence in Hitchcock’s Spellbound, as well as the iconic Mae West lips sofa, the lobster telephone, and examples of his ventures into magazine design, including cover designs for Vogue and his own publication Dalí News.

And 'Mass Culture’ is just the beginning. Other exhibitions in the exhaustive programme of events for Dalí 2004 will cover his paintings, his literary and aesthetic sources, his use of science, his Catalan roots, the influence of Gaudí on his work and his relationship with books, writing and graphic design.

Dalí’s hometown of Figueres, a 90- minute drive from Barcelona, is planning major celebrations with musical performances, exhibitions on Dalí’s childhood and his attachment to his Empordán homeland, and what’s billed as a Grand Festival on May 11 to commemorate the date of his birthday. This small town is home to the Fundacío Gala-Salvador Dalí, which has organised the worldwide celebrations and runs three museums and a study centre. Dalí founded the Fundacío himself, ensuring with characteristic modesty that it should promote “the universal recognition of the genius of his contribution to the fine arts, culture and contemporary thought”.

“We have the most important Dalí collection in the world,” explains Montse Aguer who, as well as co-curating several of the centenary exhibitions, is Director of the Study Centre at Figueres. “We have almost 400 of Dalí’s paintings, 400 drawings, more than 8,000 photographs and a library of 10,000 books on Dalí, surrealism and the avant-garde. If students want to study Dalí, they have to come to Figueres.”

The Fundacío’s star attraction is Dalí’s own Theatre-Museum, the extraordinary building which he converted from a municipal theatre in 1974 to house his work. Topped with giant golden eggs and a large dome, it features a life-sized orchestra, courtyard installation with the artist’s Cadillac blaring out opera music, gold-plated orang-utan and a room devoted to Mae West with a five-metre blonde wig. Dalí himself is buried in a crypt beneath the exhibition space. This surreal masterpiece is the most visited museum in Spain after the Prado in Madrid and, together with the castle Dalí bought for Gala at Púbol and the house they shared at Port Lligat, it attracts more than a million visitors a year.

Dalí’s lasting success is, in large part, due to his relentless quest for fame and money. Christened 'Avida Dollars’ (greedy for dollars) in an anagrammatic remark by André Breton, he was an inveterate self-publicist who loved appearing on television and became a media darling during his years in the United States. Warhol described his company thus: “It’s like being with royalty or circus people. That’s why I like being with Dalí – because it’s not like being with an artist.”

“Much like Andy Warhol, he was interested in marketing,” says Aguer. “He discovered the power of mass media and decided that he wanted to be at the centre of it. He wanted all the papers to talk about him.” Fifteen years after Dalí’s death, with five museums, countless exhibitions and worldwide celebrations devoted to him, they’re still doing just that.

For details of all events, see www.salvador-dali.org