By the mid-1930s, Dalí's relationship with the Surrealists and Breton in particular became strained. In part, this had to do with Breton's idea that Surrealism should align itself with the Marxist revolution, but more distressing to the Surrealists was Dalí's fascination with power, specifically his unabashed early admiration for Adolf Hitler. His unwillingness to choose sides in the Spanish Civil War alienated him even more from his former friends. Dismayed by Dalí's political fence-sitting and embrace of brazen consumption, the Surrealists formally dropped him in 1938. He did, however, exhibit works in international surrealist exhibitions throughout the decade.

Dalí and Gala escaped from Europe to America during World War II, spending 1940-1948 in New York. In 1941 the Museum of Modern Art gave him his first major retrospective exhibition. This was followed in 1942 by the publication of Dalí's autobiography, The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí. During his time in America Dalí moved into a new style which eventually became known as his 'classic' period, demonstrating a preoccupation with science and religion.

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After numerous successful years in America Dalí opened his own museum (Teatro Museo Dalí) in 1974 in his home town of Figueres, Spain. This was followed by retrospectives in Paris and London at the end of the decade.

Dalí's beloved wife Gala died in 1982 which made him severely depressed and after being burned in a fire in his home in Pubol in 1984 his health began to deteriorate even further. Much of his life at this point was spent in seclusion, first in Pubol and later in the Torre Galatea, a castle in Figueres adjacent to the Teatro Museo. Dalí was nursed twenty-four hours a day here until his death on 23rd January 1989 from heart failure. He left his hefty estate to the Catalan government, the Spanish state, and the Dalí Museum. Dalí was laid to rest in a crypt he had specially built in the basement of the Teatro Museo and his remains, entombed under a glass dome, were embalmed to last 300 years.

Dalí expressed surrealism in everything he said and did. He was not just unconventional and dramatic; he was fantastic, shocking and outrageous! He was an artist who loved to stir up controversy and instigate scandal and upheaval. Like Picasso, Matisse, Miro and Chagall, his place at the pinnacle of modern art history is assured.