#salvador dali - elephants

[the-cricket-chirps]

Salvador Dalí

The Elephants (Catalan: Els Elefants)

1948

[vulume]

[thesiouxzy]

[violetfaust]

Some vacation pictures

[pinotn]

Elephant Spatial by Salvador Dali

[pmamtraveller]

THE ELEPHANTS (1948) by SALVADOR DALI

Elephants were a favorite subject of SALVADOR DALI'S. They symbolize weighty strength and power as a dominant figure. DALI, ever the contrarian, props this pair high on stilts. Obviously, this is impossible, but so are the two OBELISKS floating above the elephant’s back. If you take a closer look, you can see that they’re levitating, but from the ground, these pillars look as if they’re riding on the backs of the elephants.

These OBELISKS bear a strong resemblance to MINERVA’S PULCINO SCULPTURE, which stands in front of SANTA MARIA D'ALESSANDRO'S CHURCH. This sculpture is also commonly referred to as the "ELEPHANTS AND OBELISKS" sculpture. Built by the PHARAOH APRIES around 580 BC, the red granite OBELISK was commissioned by BERNINI. BERNINI combined the idea of an OBELISK with an elephant in 1660s for the POPE ALEXANDER VII.

The OBELISK has always been associated with a sun ray's laser-like vision. However, by DALI'S time, the OBELISK and FREUD'S theory of phallic intrigue had come together. This idea brings the image of the ELEPHANT AND THE OBELISK into the modern era. The OBELISK combines ideas of power with society's masculine idolatry.

DALI amplifies this symbolism. He places the OBELISKS over the most powerful animal in the world. This idealizes the OBELISKS even more. They rise from the most impossible place, atop the back of an elephant, to the most impossible sky above. DALI moves the viewer into surrealism. The Elephant looks like a dream, but it also feels unreal.

Bizarre was one of DALI'S favorite flavors. He began with well-known subjects and painted them with remarkable accuracy. Then he added Surrealist elements. DALI derived his ideas for his paintings from dreams and FREUD, as well as from mysticism. DALI treated painting as a game. For example, he often made contradictory statements about what he meant in his work. This could be confusing because his work was already bizarre.

[nicholas1673]

Four Approaches of Formal Analysis and a painting of Salvador Dali

When criticising an artwork there are four approaches of formal analysis and they are description focuses on what you see by describing the art elements and principles of design that an artwork has, analysis focus on how the art elements and principles of design work together in this artwork, interpretation focuses on what is the meaning or mood of the artwork and judgment focuses on the evaluation of success of the artwork.

I am going to talk more by criticising an artwork using the four approaches I have just mentioned of formal analysis the artwork that I chose is called Swans Reflecting Elephants made by Salvador Dali. This painting was made in 1937 it a Surrealism style created on canvas and painted with oil paint. In this artwork you can see different coloured values that are blend of browns, blues, white and black, shades of darker colour, tint of lighter colour and a bit of highlights in the middle of the artwork. Is also has forms of biometric that is made nature and irregular, form to create a shade of illusion with light in the howl painting. The lines that this painting has are diagonal, curved and line quality of thickness even thinness on the trees, horizontal line is on the back of the trees. On the trees you can also see a bit of shape that has organic effect and the positive and negative space. On the rocks it has a bit of texture and a smooth texture on the animals, pond, trees and the clouds. It also has space of overlapping, sizes are different, lose detail, placement of closer to the horizon line appear farther away and the colour as lose brightness when is farther away. The balances that this painting has are colour, value and texture. This painting is also has the golden ratio and a rhythm of flowing that shows an organic feeling. The artwork has a unity of similarity also variety of different versions of art elements. My analysis about this painting it has a lot of art elements and a bit of design principles but it has a great balance of colours, values and textures so with these effects it made the artwork to have a rhythm, unity, proportion and variety that made the painting more interesting, effective and eye catching. The interpretation of the painting that shows the swans and elephants they have a symbolic meaning like the swans symbolize self-love, loyalty, grace, trust, love, beauty, purity and light. Elephant symbolize wisdom, vitality good luck, memory, power, prosperity, long life and strength. That is why Salvador Dali wants to show that he loves art and his passing the wisdom. My judgment of this painting is that when looking at the painting in a distance the swans and the elephants are hard to notice because it has too much detail on the background so my eyes mostly were focusing on the background not on the swans and elephants that has a symbolic meaning, so at first I thought it was a landscape only with no animals. In my own opinion I think that this painting could have been better if the artist had used lighter colours so the swans and the reflection of the elephant are viewed more with brighter colours so the people’s eyes will focus on the swans and the elephants.

Figure 1: Swans Reflecting Elephants, Salvador Dali, 1937

 

References list:

ALEX+ANI, 2022. History + Meaning of the Elephant.[online].Available at: <https://www.alexandani.com/blogs/the-wire/symbol-meaning-elephant#:~:text=Why%20Elephants%20Are%20A%20Popular,long%20life%2C%20memory%20and%20vitality> [Accessed 28 October 2021].

Garth Cilfford, C. 2021. Swan Symbolism & Meaning (+Totem, Spirit & Omens).[online].Available at: <https://worldbirds.com/swan-symbolism/> [Accessed 28 October 2021].

Gutierrez, E. 2022. Salvador Dali’s Swans Reflecting Elephants / Analysis.[online].Available at: <https://enriqueg112.medium.com/salvador-dalis-swans-reflecting-elephants-analysis-1f6e4493e94d#:~:text=Swans%20are%20a%20symbol%20of,and%20the%20wisdom%20Dali%20possessed.>  [Accessed 28 October 2021].

[carcosacurations]

elephant memory

[pinkelephant-ai]

[slygirlboy]

yeah yeah yeah salvador dali melting clocks and lobster phones ok cool whatever. the fucking elephants are the sickest shit. thats where it's at

[cishetlessfashion]

Desi/South Asian somewhat formal flamboyant dramatique butch drag king fashion with lots of accessories for anon Tactical gear Kali pvc patch Mustard yellow skinny scarf Blue and gold shawl Holographic Ganesh pin Lotus flower cufflinks Ganesh tie Kaleidoscope modi kurta vest Salvador Dali elephant necklace Hanuman brooch Yellow kurta pyjama

[the-fluff-piece]

Hello there! I saw your Milestone Event and it sounds super cool! Here is my requested prompt:

I had a strange dream, heartwarming, Law, and we end up somewhere surreal like Salvador Dali’s paintings

I cannot wait to see/read what you come up with! Your writing is phenomenal! :)

This is part of my follower milestone event

Hello dear Han,

Thank you for your kind words and weird prompt 🥺

Here is

Law destroys reality (lovingly)

Weird fluff. I couldn't incorporate the heartwarming part properly, but hey, aren't surreal elephants heartwarming in themselves?

Law had been really strange these past days. Stranger than usual.

He looks more exhausted, he is looking around like he's getting stalked and he's been sitting on deck much more than usual, just staring at the water.

He has his moods, but this is getting unsettling.

"Law, what's up?" You ask him sitting down beside him.

"Nothing"

"Law."

"Y/n."

You stare at him with your "I am your fucking girlfriend, tell me or I'll cut you" - look.

He sighs.

"I dreamed that my power is getting out of hand and I open a portal to a hell dimension instead of creating a room" he answers, dead serious.

"Ah." You try to process this.

"Now I am afraid of using it again. But I would have to. But what if everyone gets sucked into hell? I can't protect you anymore and...." his eyes get wet.

You stroke his back to comfort him. He looks at the planks, depressed.

"It was just a dream. I know they seem real often enough, but they're not. Your devil power may be weird, but not that weird. It's a well know power, isn't it? Have you ever heard of the ope ope no mi doing that?"

He looks at his hands, turns them around. His long, nimble fingers curl. He nods, reassured.

"You're right, I am being silly" he says with a little smile. "How would that be even possible? I guess mugiwara-ya is getting to me."

He gives you a little kiss and smiles for the first time in days.

"Room!" He says.

A swirl appears in his hand and engulfs the two of you in a blue light. You always feel safe in his room, where he has absolute control.

He does this thing where he moves you closer to him with his power and he gives you a deep, loving kiss. You look into his eyes and notices something strange around you, you break away.

You look around - the blue orb is more solid than normal. You cannot see the deck or the polar tang anymore.

Law looks at you lovingly: "I love you, I knew you could calm me down" he wants to touch your forehead with his, but you push his face away with a finger.

"Law, your room is weird"

He looks surprised, seeing the impenetrable blue wall around you, creasing his brow.

He drops the room.

The both of you are sitting in a desert now. The sky is red and empty, the ground seems like an endless plane of wasteland. A deep scream, but far away, can be heard. You look around and see creatures with impossibly long and thin legs stalking over the plane. The legs, hundreds of meter long sticks, end in the body of massive elephants that seem to carry some kind of construct on their back.

You feel Law grab your hand.

"Fuck, it's like I dreamed! Almost." His eyes are wide with terror.

He looks at you. You look at him. His expression seems to relax.

"At least I am not alone. If I have to get stranded in hell with someone, at least it's you." He kisses your hand.

"I'm sorry for dragging you in here, though" he meekly ads.

The elephants in the distance scream and move on their storck legs over the plane.

"Law, try again"

He looks at his hand like it was the atom bomb.

"I am not sure...in my dream, there were strange chimeras being tortured in a dark hell by impossible creatures. I don't want to go there." He looks around, already searching for a solution.

"We need shelter. Food."

"Well, the thing on the elephant looks like a house...?" You point out, peering at the pagoda-like structure in the creatures back.

"Our first house!" Law says, already heading for the creatures.

"Watch out, those clocks look slippery" you point out.

"Let's just climb that...uhm...ladder?" He guesses, pointing at another impossibly thin construct swaying slowly in front of the blood red sky.

--------

Much later. Or not that much?

Law and you set foot on the polar tang's deck again after what feels like an eternity. You're exhausted and take the trusty laser canon off your back and set it on the ground with a thud. Law is just behind you, wearing his new slick, black bodysuit. He looks so hot in the tight, dark fabric.

Bepo stares at you, already crying.

"EVERYONE THEY'RE BACK! THEY'RE HERE!" he screams and soon, the sunny deck is filled with familiar faces/ masks.

"How long have we been gone?" Law asks, shoving a glowing stick in his mouth, smoking. He's taken up some habits.

"It's been two days!!! And what the heck is that?" Bepo points at the blue box you both came out of. It was made of painted wood and the words "Police phone".

"I'll let him explain. He likes talking. I am going to get something normal to eat." He seems exasperated and trots off to the kitchen, ignoring his adoring crew asking pesky questions.

The doctor emerges from his blue box, takes a deep breath and says "Arr! Me be the doctor!"

"What doctor?" Bepo asks, absolutely perplexed.

"I think you mean doctor who" you say.

_______________

So yeah, Law is teleporting to surrealism now, you two have now SEEN things. What absolutely mind boggling adventures did you go on? I don't know. I kind of couldn't get a heartwarming part in there, but imagining law in a skintight suit surely warms something in me.

[the-temperance]

Finally concluded my first assignment in my collage course: to create two outfits (one male one female ) based on Salvador Dalis painting “Swans Reflecting Elephants,1937”.

For the woman’s outfits I was inspired by modern figure Chappel Roans performance on the “Tonight Show” combined with 17th century fashion and figures such as Marie Antoinette. As for the male I was inspired by the nature surrounding the swan with many dynamics and textile elements as to resemble the chaos within the background of the painting. I was also inspired by male figure skating outfits for the form fitting looks (combating gender roles) and performance looks adorned by ballet dancers to reference the play “Swan Lake”.

[bu1410]

Good morning TUMBLR - March 6th - 2024

''Mr. Plant has owed me a shoe since July 5, 1971."

Ch. VI - 1976 Summer Holidays - Spain and Morocco.

Strait of Gibraltar - Or, as Homer (The Greek poet, not Simpson) named in his Oddissey the '' Pillars of Hercules''.

View of Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on Morocco's territory.

View of Rabat, Capital of Morocco.

Casablanca - King Hassan II Mosque.

Hunphrey Bogart in front of the Hollywood's reconstruction of famous Casablanca Rick's Cafe'.

Benidorm - Spain.

Salvador Dali' Museum - Figueres - Spain

Another year has passed, and finally summer is here again! This time, needless to say, the destinations are obviously Spain and than Marrakech ('' Marrakech Express'' an Oscar prize Italian movie by Director Gabriele Salvatores has been just released and so we are even more keen to go there). Our vehicle this year is none other than a Renault R4 (obviously second hand). A service car from Gianluigi's mechanical workshop. Before each departure, as a must, we go for lunch: this time in an old restaurant ''the Parasoou'' where they cook the real Milanese schnitzel (elephant ear) It's midday, the streets are filled with those 10 minutes of excitement that create workers and employees returning home for lunch. On the Muggio' - Taccona road a guy with a Vespa 50 doesn't respect the red light and hits us! The scooter rider literally flying beyond the R4, without a helmet (not yet compulsory at the time), causing a large lump with his head on the upper part of car's roof. My immediate though was:

God forbid!! We just covered 2.7 km of the 5,300 km that await us and we have already had an accident!! Nice way to start a trip, even if we are not at fault for what happened. Once the paperwork for reporting the accident have been completed, we set off again and reach the restaurant finally eat the huge ''Milanese steak''. Few memories of the outward journey, everything goes quite well, up to Narbonne, where the Autoroute du Midi (Highway of the South) ends. While we are stopped at the toll booth, a girl suddenly appears out of nowhere and asks me in Spanish where we are headed.  ''At the moment for Barcelona, I reply.  ''Bueno vale'' and in no time she reappears with a friend in tow, opens the back door, literally throws a bulky piece of luggage inside and gets into the car, with a numbers of ''Muchas Gracias … Muchas Gracias!!'' In short, it is 11.00 PM on a July's evening, and we are headed to Spain via the state road to Jonquera, and two noisy Spanish girls from a holiday in Mexico have ''self-loaded''into our car. The girls, we discover after a few minutes from their talk, are ''Communists'' and immediately afterwards they begin to sing revolutionary songs which they say they learned in Mexico. It is true that Francisco Franco has been dead since the previous year, but in Spain Francoist sentiments are still very much alive, especially among the ''la Guardia Civil''. Meanwhile we noticed that a kind of 'train''queue'' had formed behind us, made up of 4 or 5 cars, which apparently are tailin us. Between the girls' ramshackle songs, the darkness, and the contradictory French road signs (with that perennial ''Toutes Directions''' which normally leads nowhere) after several kilometers we end up in a dead-end street!! We stop and get out from the car, immediately joined by the other cars drivers, which turn out to be driven by Italians!! Some of them shouting at me like:

AND NOW!!??

And now what?? I answer  We were following you, it seemed to us that you knew the way to Spain!! Says someone who got out of a Pegeout with Florence license plate.  And no, first of all I don't know the direction! And then who told you to follow me?? To make a long story short, we retraced our steps, and took the state road again, but a new mistake was lurking: after a few kilometers we realized - despite the pitch darkness - that we were on the road that leads to Carcassonne, and therefore in a northerly direction, completely wrong, Spain being to the West!! Another discussion with the ''chasing' Italians and then finally, with the help of a petrol station guy we got back on the right path to La Jonquera! Meantime Gianluigi was catechising the girls:  Soon we will be at the France-Spain border, a place full of police and Guardia Civil – no revolutionary songs, no slogans against Franco!! UNDERSTOOD!??  Girls: ''sI ....te entiendo como no......'' Luckily the girls keep their promise, and apart from a thorough check of their luggage (they are coming from Mexico, police's dogs smell something…) at the border everything turned out well. We spent through Barcelona, and we drop off the two girls near their home, in a suburban neighborhood of the city, and than we continue to Calella del Mar, where we decided to stop. After a restful sleep and a day spent relaxing in a chiringuito on the beach, in the evening we had dinner in one of those Spanish restaurants with two entrances, the main one on a narrow street, and the other on the opposite side. The Ladies who own the place - two elderly sisters - made up a spectacular paella, and serve local rosé wine: a tasty dinner that costs us just few pesetas. The next morning we set off early, we want to get at least as far as the Costa del Sol, about 800 km south of Barcelona.

In 1976 the Autopista del Mediterraneo ended in Alicante, after which it began a tortuous route over the Sierra – passing through Albacete (the city of knives), Jaen, Lorca, Baza, Guadix, Granada and then Malaga. The alternative was to go through Almeria, and then the coastal road through Motril and than Malaga – but this variant was even longer and more complicated. In any case, we managed to get to Torremolinos for the evening, not bad considering we were traveling in a second hand R4. We stayed overnight in a hotel on the road to Benalmadena, and the next afternoon we set off for Algeciras.

Algeciras is a Spanish city of over 120,000 inhabitants in the province of Cadiz, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. The city is located at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, in the Bay of Gibraltar (or Algeciras) in front of the Rock of Gibraltar. Its name derives from the Arabic Al-Jazīra al-Khadrā "the green island", imposed in 711 by the first Arab conquerors who landed on the peninsula. We chose to ferry to Ceuta - a Spanish enclave in Moroccan territory - for two reasons:

The crossing lasts 2 hours instead of 3 hours of Algeciras - Tangier one.  The disembarkation operations in Ceuta are much quicker than in Tangier, because the border with Morocco in Ceuta is located about 2 kilometers from the city, not immediately upon disembarkation as in Tangier.

Very quiet cruising, calm sea, very pleasant temperature, we will remember this on the way back…… After disembarking, we quickly reach the border with Morocco, where we manage to complete the transit operations in half an hour. And we immediately realize that the hour saved on the ferry is nothing compared to the long and difficult 110 km to reach Tangier. Suggestion: if you have to continue towards the East, along the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, it is best to ferry to Ceuta. If, however, your destination is southern Morocco, it is much better to ferry from Algeciras to Tangier. It is now evening when we reach Tangier, and we checked in last year's hotel, Les Almohades. The old valet is still there, who recognizes us and starts one of his usual tirades in 3 different languages:  Maroc is a great country ……Algeria nada…….  Au Maroc le melon…. kabirrrrr…. Algeria nada……  Hitler criminal…….Mussolini….pas trops……. As usual we leave the next morning, around midday. The state road towards the South is good, it runs along the Atlantic and passes through Asilah, Larache, Kenitra and obviously a myriad of smaller towns. For this reason the average speed cannot be high, as the road is populated by cars, buses, carts pulled by donkeys, scooters and pedestrians. We been passing through the beauty of the Foret de la Mamora, before Rabat; I believe one of the largest forests of cork trees in the world. The state road crosses it from North to South, and it is here that we manage to avoid an accident that could have had serious consequences. A cart dragged by a donkey, just before I was overtaking it, and when we were not even 20 meters away, suddenly the animal escapes the ''fellah's'' control who is driving it, and starts crossing the road from right to left! When I try to overtake him on the right, he comes to the right! When I try to avoid him on the left, he comes on the left! Now very close, I attempt a desperate maneuver: I go up the embankment at the side of the road, like a flyover on the Monza circuit, and I manage to avoid the beast by a hair's breadth! DONE IT!

Soon later we arrive in Sale', the so-called twin city of Rabat . After crossing the Ouadi Bou Regreg bridge, Rabat appears to us as an elegant city, with beautiful tree-lined avenues. We visit the mausoleum of King Mohammed V, which is located on the square of the Hassan Tower and dominates the mouth of the Ouadi Bou Regreg. The mausoleum contains the tomb of Muhammad V of Morocco and now also of his sons Moulay Abdellah and Hassan II. It was built between 1961 and 1971, in ten years of work in which 400 craftsmen participated. The architecture of the mausoleum is due to the Vietnamese architect Eric Vo Toan, and is based on the classic Arab-Andalusian style according to traditional Moroccan art - a true wonderful monument. We then continue to Casablanca, which is only 90 km away by motorway. Once we arrive, we head to a seafront hotel, directly on the beach. It was than we realize that we arrived in Morocco in the middle of Ramadan, the period in which Muslims abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours. Everything has slowed down, the shops, bars and restaurants are closed during the day, and reopen only after the cannon shot that signals of ''Ifhtar'' (Evening prayer). We manage to spend somewhat boring days between the beach and the hotel. During one of this lazy afternoons, Gianluigi has run out of cigarettes, so he left the beach in his bathing suit, looking for a tobacco shop, even though I told him that he won't find any open.

I'll wait for you at the hotel, I toldl him.

Evening came and my friend still hasn't shown up, and I'm starting to be worry: maybe something has happened to him..... With the help of the reception's guy, we make a few phone calls: hospitals, and then the police station. And from there they confirm that yes, a foreigner (Italian) was arrested while walking on the Corniche in a swimsuit!! I immediately took a taxi and run to the police station, where the cops explain:

''Your friend has committed a serious act of indecency, especially now that we are in the month of Ramadan''!! Using all my negotiating skills, I try to soften the position of the Surete' Nationale agent. And at the end of an endless talk, I finally manage to convince the cops that

''It was a mistake, he didn't know it was forbidden to walk in sunbath outside the beach, we do this in Italy all the time! But above all he didn't want to offend anyone''. Ok, deal! The crime, instead of being punished with seven days in prison, been transformed into a simple fine: 2,500 Moroccan Dirhams (about 220 USD of today). Meantime I was telling Gianluigi to stay calm, I return to the hotel to get the money - then finally, after an exhausting drafting of the PV (Proces verbal), signatures and countersignatures, Gianluigi (during all this time he was in the cage, but alone) is released!! The inconvenience of the arrest, combined with the Ramadan time, ruined our feeling a bit. The next day we decide to leave Casablanca and heading to Marrakesh. We manage to get to Settat, a modern city about 90 km South of Casa'. Settat is a city which, thanks to the fact that it was the birthplace of a very powerful then Moroccan Minister of the Interior, has enjoyed an unusual development in the rather difficult landscape of Morocco. Large tree-lined avenues, well-kept public gardens, modern government buildings with a touch of traditional Arab architecture. All this gives the city a respectable and pleasant air. It is in Settat that we stop to decide what to do: continue (the further we go towards the interior of the country the hotter it will be) or retrace our steps and leave for Spain? The second hypothesis wins, and we make a U-turn: Casablanca, and then via Rabat, Kenitra and then Tangier: this time, mindful of the experience of the outward journey, we want to avoid unnecessary kilometers to reach Ceuta. We had a quiet evening in Tangier: a walk of the Kasbah (truly magnificent) and after dinner at the ''Valencia'' restaurant we go to bed quite early: tomorrow morning we intend to take one of the first ferries to Algeciras.

The strait crossin Tangier – Algeciras it takes about 3 hours, and in that August, with calm seas and bright sun it was a real pleasure. We therefore found ourselves returning to Spain earlier than expected, due to the fact that Morocco, ''closed for Ramadan'', had made us opt for a return to Europe.

BENIDORM It was decided not to stop in the Costa del Sol, but to continue to the Costa Blanca. The rest of the holiday was without too many problems and facts to report. That year I met some girls from Northern Europe, including a blonde Belgian girl. She told me that her father was the owner of a furniture factory (look…) and that after graduating in accounting she had decided to work in her father's company. And then she realized – horror! - that the employees MUST BE PAID EVERY 15 DAYS!! A LOT OF MONEY went from dad's bank account to those of workers and employees! How strange, perhaps Monique thought that the employees lived on PURE OXYGEN???!! or that they could shop for free at the supermarket…or rather that someone else (the State?) was subsidizing them to pay for their living. For the first time we moved to Benidorm, near Alicante. A sea resort 500 km closer to Italy compare to Costa del Sol. Costa Blanca sea is undoubtedly beautiful, the city and the surroundings are very liveable. We found a cozy apartment ina a complex on Rincon del Loix, a hilly area immediately east of Benidorm, from where we overlooked the bay. The residence, in Andalusian style, was managed by a Swiss couple. During the day we could walk down to the coves below the residence, where the water was transparent, and there wasn't the crowds of Benidorm's main beaches. And so, between swimming, relaxing, bocadillos, feasting on mussels and drinking sangria para todos at the ''Al Vapor'' restaurant in Calpe (overlooking the Penon) as well as nights at Sunset club, unfortunately the day to return home inevitably arrived...... We left Benidorm with the usual ''corazon dripping with tears''. In the afternoon we stopped in a place called Xativa in one of those shady bars along the interstate road, the ones with the awning made of Coca Cola caps. Excellent bocadillos ''cagnas'' (cerveza on tap) and then off again towards East. Having arrived near Valencia, after about 60 km, Gianluigi realizes that something is missing: he no longer has the bag that he always hang around his neck, where he keeps his passport and wallet!!

Where did you lose it? Or forgotten? I said.....

Mmmm....guess in the bar of Xativa… 60 km ago… '' He answered

So.....nothing to do except U-turn, hoping to at least find the passport in the bar where we stopped. We arrive with our hearts in our mouths in front of the bar area, we enter and the bartender, truly a man of few words, bends down under the counter and hands us Gianluigi's purse!! Where nothing was missing! And so we leave the bar followed by the "hasta l'huego" of the phlegmatic dueño. The journey back to Italy continued without a hitch, a short stop in Figueras to visit the Dali Museum: the Dalí Theater and Museum is a museum dedicated to the great surrealist painter in his hometown of Figueres, Catalonia, Spain. The museum receives more than 1 million visitors a year.

I want my museum to be a single block, a labyrinth, a large surrealist object. It will be a totally theatrical museum. People who come to see it will leave with the feeling of having had a theatrical dream - Salvador Dali '

It is a unique and unforgettable experience – the Great Genius is buried in a crypt, below the stage.

Afterwards it was just boring kilometres, with the usual signs on French roads and motorways advertising sites as ''historic'' even simple villages where perhaps Napoleon only stopped to urinate or to eat his raclette.......

[musamusicus]

Salvador Dali - The Elephants - 1948